Gambhir, who was also present during the occasion, wrote on Twitter, “Arun Jaitley Ji was like a father figure to me and it is a matter of great pride and pleasure to have a stand built in my name at the ‘Arun Jaitley Stadium’”.
“I thank the apex council, my fans, friends, and family who supported me at every step,” Gambhir added.
Meanwhile, the cricketer-turned-politician lamented the current mess in DDCA, questioning president Sharma for the delay in naming the North Stand after him.
“I think the president can answer this question better because earlier I was told that stand will be unveiled during the India versus Australia game (in March), then they said it will be the first game of the IPL, they said the hot weather (local tournament). This was what was told to me in the last six to seven months,” Gambhir said.
Current India captain Virat Kohli also has a stand named after him at the Kotla, alongside greats such as Mohinder Amarnath and Bishan Singh Bedi. Virender Sehwag has a gate named after him and so has former India women’s team captain Anjum Chopra.
Gambhir played 198 first-class matches, 299 List A matches and 251 T20s. The top-order batsman scored 15153 runs in the first-class format and 10077 runs in the List A. His knock of 97 runs in the World Cup 2011 final against Sri Lanka is always in the minds of Indian cricket fans.