'You did not ask me a single question on SKY', Gambhir at pain over media obsession with Kohli-Rohit duo

Gautam Gambhir believes the Indian media needs to play a more active part in breaking the hero-worship culture within Indian cricket by stop obsessing over big-name personalities such as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. 

The former India skipper called for greater attention to be paid for consistently performing players like Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya, who may not have similar fan following as Kohli and Rohit but do they job brilliantly on the field. 

Gautam Gambhir was speaking as a guest on Zee News prior to the much-anticipated India versus Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 encounter at the MCG on Sunday (October 23).

 The ex-cricketer turned politician is at pains to see excessive attention being paid to players who bring with them greater social media fan following to the table and not the lesser-known performers for India. 

Gambhir's remarks on hero-worshipping in Indian cricket 

To cite his point, Gambhir was quick to put a scanner on Zee, which had asked him to come up his opinions ahead of the India-Pakistan clash. The former opener pointed out that the media never asks him questions about strong performing cricketers like Suryakumar and Hardik but is quick to put their attention on what Kohli and Rohit maybe doing with their games. 

"Talk about Indian cricket," Gambhir said on Zee. "We should all be talking about the Indian team. We should stop hero worship. It shouldn't be there at all, but it's still prevelant because media transform these players into brands. Suryakumar Yadav's performance, in the last one year, has been better than all those six batters. But you did not ask me a single question about him."

"It is because he does not have as many followers on social media compared to other players. Even you first took the name of Virat Kohli, not Suryakumar. Maybe, Rohit Sharma would be next, then KL Rahul. But based on performance, Suryakumar, and Hardik Pandya has been the best in the Indian team.)," he added.

Also Read: 'I hope T20 franchises are watching' - Zimbabwe coach spells warning about in-form all-rounder 

Gambhir suggested that this level of hero-worshipping is one indirect cause of India's ICC trophy drought. The Indian men's side hasn't won a major world event since MS Dhoni & company lifted the 2013 Champions Trophy in England. 

"When the Indian team leaves for World Cup, then we should all stop this hero worship. Worship the team. In fact, this has been the main reason why India have not been able to win any ICC trophies between 2011 and 2022.)," he said.