I had differences with Dhoni, but never a rivalry: Gambhir
In a Facebook live chat, cricketer Gautam Gambhir said he and MS Dhoni differed on some issues but were never rivals.
Cricketer Gautam Gambhir has made it clear that while he has had differences with MS Dhoni, captain of India's one-day side, there was never any rivalry between the two. The Delhi Ranji team captain revealed this during a live video chat with fans on the social networking site Facebook. Reports of differences between Gambhir and Dhoni have made headlines in the media from time to time.
Gambhir admitted that he and Dhoni held different opinions on many issues. Both were part of the Indian team that performed brilliantly in limited-overs cricket. "There was never any rivalry between Dhoni and me," Gambhir said. "When we played for Team India, winning was our only aim despite our differences of opinion. In any case, having different views is no big deal in life. I believe Dhoni is an excellent player and an excellent human being."
The 34-year-old Gambhir also said that he spent some of the best moments of his professional life with Dhoni. "We enjoyed the finest moments of our careers together, whether it was winning the T20 World Cup in 2007, the 2011 World Cup, or becoming the world's number one Test team. Our aim and our goal were always the same."
Gambhir performed superbly in both those World Cups under Dhoni's captaincy, and India became champions in both. In the T20 World Cup final against Pakistan, Gambhir was the top scorer with 75 runs. In the 2011 50-over World Cup final too, the left-handed batsman played an innings of 97, as India successfully chased Sri Lanka's total. Gambhir had recently returned to India's Test side after injuries to KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan, but could not hold on to his place once Rahul was fit again.
