I could have been diplomatic but that’s not me, says Gautam Gambhir

Gambhir has enjoyed a distinguished career which has seen him win the ICC T20I World Cup in 2007 as well as the ICC ODI World Cup in 2011. However, Gambhir has been a controversial figure in international cricket due to his brash attitude and his relentlessness to give everything for his team and secure his win.

In an exclusive interview to PTI, Gambhir spoke about how he has made a lot of enemies over the years due to his gritty behavior on and off the pitch. However, the left-handed opener added that he stands by the choices he made throughout his career.

"It's not only about cricketing system, in general, our society doesn't like to be shown the mirror. We like to maintain the status quo and not look at the reality. I get suffocated by all this.

"I can't tolerate wrong things and artificiality. A lot of people around me say that I could have been diplomatic but that is simply not me. Yes, I made many enemies but I slept in peace," Gambhir, who is set to retire after Sunday, told PTI reporters.

The former KKR and DD captain had an ugly altercation with KP Bhaskar in 2017 when he alleged that the former coach was trying to destroy the careers of junior players. Gambhir also was at loggerheads with Chetan Chauhan over a rookie bowler called Navdeep Saini, who he thought was cut out for a higher level. Not to forget the Delhi-born cricketers' infamous bust-up with Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi.

The 37-year old who represented India in 58 Test matches added that he has been misunderstood over the course of his career in the past.

"It did affect me. I am human after all but then like I said, I could not have let the unfair (practices) prevail. Look, I am not being holier than thou but some of the things that go on in our system are absolutely ridiculous. I was vocal about them and I paid the price by having an unfulfilled career.

"Misunderstood a lot of times. For example, if I said, a captain is as good as his team, media and critics thought I was taking a dig at MS Dhoni. These critics would conveniently ignore when I repeated the statement when I was leading KKR or Delhi Ranji team. All these misunderstandings played a negative part in my career," Gambhir revealed.