Cricketer turned politician Gautam Gambhir turned 38 on Monday. The BJP MP from East Delhi, who bid farewell from international cricket in December 2018, donned a new avatar b plunging into politics for his second innings.


The former Indian opener's fans, colleagues and  the cricketing fraternity extended their wishes to the cricketer on his 38th B'day. Gambhir's fellow Indian colleagues Cheteshwar Pujara, RP Singh, Suresh Raina and VVS Laxman were among those who extended their wishes to the former Test cricketer.




Gautam Gambhir was an integral part of the Indian ODI and test set up in the first decade of the new millennium, played a crucial role in India's 2011 World Cup victory.  The former left-handed opener played the most important knocks of his career, when he top scores with 97 in the World Cup final against Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

India lost Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar early in chase of 275 but Gambhir not just steadied the ship but also helped India inch closer to the historic win with a 122-ball 97.

Gambhir said winning the World Cup was his childhood dream and that he was happy to help fulfill the dreams of not just the cricketers but millions of people in the country. "When I look back now, it has been a very long journey and a very satisfying one.

I was just 2 years old when India won the first World Cup but my childhood dream was always to be part of a World Cup-winning team, that was probably my only dream as I was growing up," Gambhir had said after his retirement.

Gambhir also chipped in with valuable knocks in India's World T20 2007 title win. The left-handed opener played a match-winning knock of 75 in the final against Pakistan in Johannesburg.

Gambhir played 58 Tests scoring 4154 runs, 147 ODIs with 5238 runs and 37 T20Is with 932 runs. Gambhir, who has a total of 20 international hundreds, also was one of the most successful captains in Indian Premier League. He led Kolkata Knight Riders to 2 IPL titles.