Gautam Gambhir is someone who is impulsive and aggressive enough to elbow a bowler and miss the next match as punishment wouldn’t usually be associated with a task that requires intense levels of patience and discipline over long periods. Especially when the job starts on the third evening, and certainly not when there is a spell where a batsman scores one run in an hour.
The Napier Test has not yet been saved, but Gambhir has been instrumental in India taking that big step towards doing it, and he has made sure he is there to try and take the final steps as well. That, after having batted more than seven hours for only 102 runs, scoring 88 runs in 242 balls today, and only 19 in the final session.
Gambir was on 83 and to move on to 84 took an hour’s time after tea! Sachin was doing all the scoring.
What is often not seen when people look at Gambhir’s “natural” batting in the one-dayers, and even in Tests, is that he is a tough character. “A tough little kid,” Dravid calls him. His friends remember how he cheats while playing videogames, because he hates to lose. It wasn’t really surprising that he was prepared for the battle of the mind.
“There were phases when both of us were challenging each other,” Dravid said. “There are periods when you are batting a long day – it is mentally draining – when your concentration does waver a bit. Hats off to Gautam. He stuck it out. He batted the whole day. Lots of character and temperament. He will learn a lot from this innings, probably more than any he has played in his career.”
The rest of the Test world will learn a lot about Gambhir from this innings, more than they have done from any he has played in his career.
Credits – cricinfo.com
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