Gambhir: My insecurities well documented but raised the bar alone

Exuding grace Gautam Gambhir Wednesday said he doesnt see anything wrong in Paddy Uptons assessment of his insecurities but asserted that he is not a vulnerable man citing the 97 in the World Cup final to buttress his pointIn his new book The Barefoot Coach Indias former mental conditioning coach has written about notions of mental toughness and how Gambhir despite being one of the finest Indian batsmen of his time was perhaps also one of the weakest and mentally most insecuredThe cricketerturnedpolitician who is currently busy with his election campaign doesnt find anything wrong with Uptons assessmentWell Paddy Upton is a genuinely nice man and he wont have done anything with any sinful intentions I have full faith in him Gambhir told PTI when asked about Uptons comments about him in the newly released bookIn any case my insecurities as a cricketer are welldocumented It is not as if Paddy has spoken about something that was not there in public domain said Gambhir the hero of Indias 2007 World T20 and 2011 World Cup victoriesFor Gambhir the insecurity stemmed from his burning desire to attain perfection and he is not hurt that Upton has termed him negative and pessimisticIt doesnt hurt me but I would like to put things in perspective Look what Paddy couldnt say iquest maybe he didnt know or the publisher of the book chose to edit it iquest that I wanted the Indian team and myself to be the best in the worldThat is why I was not satisfied even after scoring a 100 and wanted to score 200 as has been mentioned in Paddys book I see nothing wrong there As a driven individual I have always strived to be the best and raise the bar for myself alone said the 37 year old who top scored with 97 in the 2011 World Cup finalGambhir isnt hurt by the public disclosure of what were supposed to be personal sessions with the South African for commercial purposeNo no I am not hurt at all like I said Paddy is a top man But Id like to set the record straight that a vulnerable person cant score in pressure situations of a World Cup final said GambhirBeing deemed weakest was perhaps the only point on which Gambhir differed with UptonHe pointed out that numerous inexplicable rejections entering a complex Ranji dressing room environment made him the cricketer that he eventually becameI was in school 12th standard when I made my Ranji Trophy debut for Delhi when they had some stalwarts in the ranks Gambhir recalled the 1998 season when the likes of Ajay Sharma Ashu Dani Akash Malhotra Vijay Dahiya were part of the sideAnyone who understands Delhi cricket will tell you that it was very challenging and a weakminded person cant do thatHe missed two junior age group World Cup one U15 led by Reetinder Sodhi known as Lombard World Challenge and the maiden U19 World Cup triumph in 2000 under Mohammed Kaifs captaincy despite staggering statistics at the domestic levelI was declined a World Cup spot for under15s I was again denied a rightful spot in the under19s in the year 2000 when I was the highest rungetter in the country and then again in a proper 50over World Cup in the year 2007Gambhir has time and again mentioned how the 2007 ODI World Cup snub made him almost quit the sport at a young age of 26These rejections had an impact on me big time but I was mentally strong enough to come back from these reversals and serve my country as much as I couldAccording to Gambhir if he was mentally fragile he couldnt have led Kolkata Knight Riders for seven years with two titles More so he had to fight for acceptance and love from a partisan Kolkata crowd whose favourite son Sourav Ganguly was dumped by the franchise something a vulnerable man couldnt have possibly achievedAdditionally it is not easy to slip into the shoes of Bengals favoured son Sourav Ganguly When I joined KKR in 2011 I was doing that fully aware that I wont be welcomed with open armsI was fortunate that during the sevenyear stint with KKR we won the tournament twice again not something that a weak mind can do he concludedCatch up on all the latest IPL News and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates