Player Management

India's opening batsman Gautam Gambhir was named ICC Test Player of the Year in 2009 having scored 1269 runs at 84.60 in eight tests, during the 12-month qualification period. This outstanding performance also sealed his spot on the World Test Team of the Year alongside fellow team members Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh and other top international cricketers.

Gambhir made his debut on the national team in 2003 in an ODI against Bangladesh. A year later, he made his first test appearance. Since then he has made over 2200 runs in 25 test matches*. He is the fourth Indian batsman (after Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar and Tendulkar) to achieve a double century at home (against Zimbabwe in 2002), and the only player to score more than 300 runs in four consecutive Test series.

Unsurprisingly, in 2008, the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, Delhi Daredevils, signed Gambhir in the first round auction for US$725,000. That year, he also led his state, Delhi, to the Ranji Trophy title – the first time in 16 years – by scoring an unbeaten 130 runs.

Gambhir's batting success continued to soar that year. He went on to finish the CB Series in Australia as the leading run-scorer with a total of 440 runs.

More recently, Gambhir was appointed deputy to MS Dhoni in the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy held in South Africa. He has also been named captain of the Delhi Daredevils.

*as of October 2009

Career highlights

Sponsors