Gautam Gambhir Turns 39; Reliving The Game Changing Knocks Played By 'Gauti' To Help India Win 2 World Cup Titles

Gautam Gambhir is hailed as one of the finest left handed opening batsman to have represented India in all three forms of cricket at the international level. Gambhir is best remembered for having formed a highly successful opening partnership with his Delhi team mate and batting great Virender Sehwag in both Test and ODI cricket.

Former Indian Test cricket Gautam Gambhir turned a year older to celebrate his 39th Birthday on Wednesday (Oct 14). The cricketer-turned politician was poured in with birthday wishes and greetings from his near and dear ones, friends and the cricketing fraternity at large. Past legends of the sport and modern day stalwarts all joined in the bandwagon to wish one of India's finest Test openers on his 39th birthday. The Board For Cricket Control In India (BCCI) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) also put out a congratulatory posts to wish Gautam Gambhir by posting info-graphics to summarize his stellar international career.

2007 World T20-winner ???? 2011 World Cup-winner ???? 242 international matches, 10,324 runs ???? ????

Wishing @GautamGambhir a very happy birthday. ????????#TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/UaERKjQUOH — BCCI (@BCCI) October 14, 2020

🖐️ Only 🇮🇳 player to score five centuries in consecutive Tests 👬 Scored 4412 Test runs with Virender Sehwag – the most by an Indian opening pair 🏅 India's highest run-scorer in the finals of the 2007 @T20WorldCup and 2011 @cricketworldcup Happy birthday to @GautamGambhir 🎂 pic.twitter.com/VoEmpPJwjY

— ICC (@ICC) October 14, 2020

Gautam Gambhir is hailed as one of the finest left handed opening batsman to have represented India in all three forms of cricket at the international level. Gambhir is best remembered for having formed a highly successful opening partnership with his Delhi team mate and batting great Virender Sehwag in both Test and ODI cricket. Playing most of his international career under the captaincy of MS Dhoni, Gambhir was part of a star studded Indian team which boasted of legends like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag. Gambhir played the best knocks of his life in two of India's biggest triumphs in international cricket. On his 39th birthday, let us relive two his most glittering performances with the willow for India. Whirlwind 75-run Knock To Help India Beat Pakistan In ICC 2007 T20 World Cup Finals The southpaw played a whirlwind yet gritty 75-run knock off just 54 deliveries to play a major hand in India's scintillating win against Pakistan in the finals of the 2007 ICC T20 World Cup in Johannesburg. Gambhir knock was special in the context of the grand finale as he anchored India's innings well with wickets of the top order batsmen falling at regular intervals at the other end. Match Winning 97 against Sri Lanka In 2011 World Cup Final Gautam Gambhir's moment under the sun came in the finals of the ICC 2011 World Cup against Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai as he stroked his way to a valiant 97-knock which spearhead India's successful 275-run run chase and helped the hosts lift their second World Cup title (50 overs format). With the hosts tottering at 31 for 2 after losing both openers Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag early, Gambhir did most of the innings repair work by forging a gritty partnership with youngster Virat Kohli and then stitching a match winning 109-wicket partnership  for the 4th wicket with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to guide India to one of their biggest wins in ODI cricket. A Summary Of Gautam Gambhir's International Career In a glittering 13-year long international career for India, Gautam Gambhir notched up 4,154, 5,238 and 932 runs in 58 Tests, 147 ODIs and 37 T20Is respectively. The elegant left handed opener racked up 9 tons in Test cricket and 11 centuries in the limited overs format. His 206 against Australian on his home turf at Delhi is his highest individual score in Test cricket for India. Besides his stellar exploits for the 'Men In Blue', Gambhir goes down as one of the legends in the Indian Premier League (IPL) owing to prolific run scoring exploits with Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) and Kolkata Knight Riders and leading Kolkata Knight Riders to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014.  Gambhir finished his IPL career with 4,217 runs at an average of 31.23.