Former India batsman Gautam Gambhir, who was India’s highest run-scorer in the 2011 World Cup final against Sri Lanka, has once again spoken highly of the social media and PR power some players hold, which has meant that the other match-winners remain underrated.
Without taking MS Dhoni’s name directly, Gautam Gambhir pointed out that people don’t talk as much about Yuvraj Singh, who was the Man of the Tournament in the 2011 World Cup for consistent performances with the ball and bat, as compared to someone else who has a “good PR agency”.
“How many people talk about Yuvraj Singh?”: Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir, who has worked with a premier broadcaster like Star Sports for years, pointed out that the glorification of certain individuals has been made by the broadcasters themselves by giving most of the screentime to certain players, while unfairly ignoring the other match-winners.
“You know it. You please tell me that one player Yuvraj Singh who was Man of the Tournament in 2011, how many people talk about him. Why? Probably he does not have a good PR agency. Probably this word ‘underrated’ is a very unfair word. It is actually under-shown, if you won’t show the people, then they won’t know and you keep showing one person, then he will become a brand,” Gautam Gambhir said in ‘ANI Podcast with Smita Prakash’.
“Broadcaster can never be a PR machinery. The broadcaster needs to be fair to everyone sitting in the dressing room. If I have a machinery today, using which I show one of two players for 2 hours and 50 minutes and the other player for only 10 minutes out of 3 hours, whichever player is shown the longest will become the brand.” Gambhir added.
Gautam Gambhir, who also was India’s top-scorer in the 2007 T20 World Cup final against Pakistan, was happy to see everyone talking about the Indian bowlers during the World Cup 2023 as India recorded 10 straight victories.
“In this World Cup, one good thing happened and I am pleased about it that we became a bowling-obsessed nation from batting one. Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj are getting appreciated for their hard work,” he added.
