New Delhi: Two-time World Cup winner Gautam Gambhir has strongly criticized the prevalent culture of 'worshiping a hero' in the Indian cricket fraternity. The ex-India star opener believes that the way the fans are passionate about Virat Kohli, and MS Dhoni, it should be for the rest of the players as well. Gambhir also urged to 'not create monsters in the dressing room of the Indian cricket team', first there was MS Dhoni and now there is Virat Kohli. Gambhir said there should be only one monster, that is Indian cricket, not an individual player.
Speaking on Indian Express' 'Idea Exchange' program, Gambhir said people's passion for worshiping a hero is not right for Indian cricket. The cricketer-turned-commentator also called the followers of social media the fakest thing.
“Do you think that this whole hero worship chokes the next star to come up? Nobody has grown in that shadow. It was Mahendra Singh Dhoni earlier, it is Virat Kohli now," Gambhir said.
“When Kohli got a 100 and there was this young guy from a small town of Meerut [Bhuvneshwar Kumar], who also managed to get five wickets, no one even bothered to speak about him. This was so unfortunate. I was the only one, during that commentary stint, who said that. He bowled four overs and got five wickets and I don’t think anyone knows about that. But Kohli scores a 100 and there are celebrations everywhere in this country. India needs to come out of this hero worship. Whether it’s Indian cricket, whether it’s politics, whether it’s Delhi cricket. We have to stop worshipping heroes. The only thing that we need to worship is Indian cricket, or for that matter Delhi or India," he added.
“Who created that? It is created by two things. First, by social media followers, which is probably the fakest thing in this country because you are judged by how many followers you have. That is what creates a brand."