New Delhi: They have never shared a great rapport on and off-the-field and now former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has gone a step further terming former India opener Gautam Gambhir as someone with “no great records and just a lot of attitude”. In his just released autobiography ‘Game Changer’, Afridi launched a scathing attack on Gambhir, some of which termed out to be factually incorrect.
“Some rivalries were personal, some professional. First the curious case of Gambhir. Oh poor Gautam. He & his attitude problem. He who has no personality. He who is barely a character in the great scheme of cricket. He who has no great records just a lot of attitude,” writes Afridi. “Gambhir behaves like he’s a cross between Don Bradman & James Bond. In Karachi, we call guys like him saryal (grumpy). It’s simple, I like happy, positive people. Doesn’t matter if they are aggressive or competitive, but you have to be positive & Gambhir wasn’t,” he writes.
Afridi, who also reveals his real age in the book making him five years older than what the official records state, recollected the infamous heated exchange with Gambhir during an Asia Cup game when they nearly came to blows. “I remember the run-in with Gambhir during the 2007 Asia Cup, when he completed his single while running straight into me. The umpires had to finish it off or I would have. Clearly we had a frank bilateral discussion about each other’s female relatives,” Afridi recalled the uncharitable verbal exchange. Afridi featured in 27 Tests, 398 ODIs and 99 T20 Internationals. He retired from international cricket after the 2016 World T20 in India. Gambhir on his part refused to comment on Afridi’s book.
