Happy birthday, Gautam Gambhir - India’s former frontman in World Cup Finals

The year was 2007. India had crashed out of the ICC World Cup prematurely and the fans were livid to witness such meek submission from the Men in Blue. They lost the opener against Bangladesh and that was probably the telling blow to their aspirations, despite an uplifting performance against Bermuda in the second contest.

Five months later, another massive controversy fanned the nation that was unified in its pursuit of just one answer, and that was how can an Indian team venture into the inimical shores of South Africa and challenge the world in a format that was very rarely played before the showpiece event and that too without the big names of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly.

Fast forward the clock by 20 days and the Men in Blue had bossed giants of this wild format where they knew no grammar, they knew no bounds, they were only in for a horizon that was adorned perfectly by a royal sunset. When the dust settled, they were only a step away from the Promised Land and in between the destination and a bunch of youngsters ready to pull off the unthinkable, stood Pakistan.

India’s prized batting order was asked to deliver the payload first and much to their woes, the big names faltered on the day when they were needed to come out in flying colours. Despite the ruins and chaos at one end, there was one man who held the mast together and he ensured that no matter the circumstances, he had to go strong.

By evenfall India had lost the likes of Yusuf Pathan, Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa and MS Dhoni and the numbers on the card were pretty shaky. Yet, this one man battled his way through a bunch of invasive Pakistan bowlers who were hitting all the right spots on the day of reckoning. And this warrior was in no mood to stop. He took on illustrious names like a peak Mohammad Asif, Sohail Tanvir, Shahid Afridi, a marauding Umar Gul and a dicey Yasir Arafat and came out all guns blazing in probably the game’s literal sense.

By the time he was done, India had a platform for themselves from which Rohit Sharma did the honours of catapulting them to a battling number. And yet the star of the first innings in a murky evening that left behind a trail of dust whirling up, was the birthday boy for today, Gautam Gambhir. A blistering 75 from just 54 balls helped India secure a total of 157 for the loss of 5, a number that saw them lifting their maiden T20 World Cup by 5 runs.

Fast forward the clock by 4 years and Team India was involved in another grand finale and this time it was the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011. Chasing a monumental 275, India was already deprived of two of their most successful batters in the tournament, Virender Sehwag who was removed for a duck and Sachin Tendulkar who instilled hopes with a couple of gorgeous drives but fizzled away after Malinga managed to produce the mishit that flew into the arms of Sangakkara.

India were wobbling and they needed someone to deliver. At the crease was a young Virat Kohli and the same warrior who played an instrumental role in helping Team India lift their first major silverware in the shortest format of the game.

As the initial storm was weathered, that is when Gautam Gambhir started coming out of his hesitant husk and punishing the Sri Lankan bowlers while Virat Kohli was the patient learner at the other end.

From Muttiah Muralitharan to Nuwan Kulasekara, from Thisara Perera to Suraj Randiv, Gambhir spared none. There will be times when he would waltz down the track and emanate those forceful drives while there will be occasions when he would stand inside the crease, shuffle his feet and administer those knife blows to the Lankan hearts.

Even when he was batting at 97, he had zero regards for caution. He stepped out and wanted to drive Thisara Perera through cover but failed to connect. Despite his timbre being in smoke, it did very little to deter India as an incoming Yuvraj sustained the momentum while MS Dhoni sealed the title after 28 years for the Men in Blue.

Today is Gautam Gambhir’s 41st birthday. As we celebrate the southpaw’s special day, no one would forget the kind of force that he was in the heart of the Indian aspirations and the role that he played in helping the Men in Blue lifting the silverware not once but twice. He was a big-match player and whenever the situation was clutch, he would be there, taking over the reins himself and delivering them in clinical fashion. He was a man forged exclusively for the stars.