Gautam Gambhir is an Indian politician and former cricketer, who has played all formats of the game. He is a current member of the Lok Sabha since 2019.

 

Bio/Wiki
Nickname	Gauti
Profession(s)	Cricketer, Politician
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)	in centimeters- 168 cm in meters- 1.68 m in feet inches- 5’ 6”
Eye Colour	Dark Brown
Hair Colour	Black
Cricket
International Debut	ODI- 11 April 2003 against Bangladesh at Dhaka Test- 3 November 2004 against Australia at Mumbai T20- 13 September 2007 against Scotland at Durban
International Retirement	4 December 2018 (from all formats of cricket)
Jersey Number	#5 (Indian) #5 (Domestic)
Domestic/State Team	Delhi, Delhi Daredevils, Essex, India Red, Indian Board President's XI, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Cricket Association President's XI
Records (main ones)	• Record of most runs (1269 runs) in the 2008/09 season. • Most ODI centuries in 2008 by an Indian. • Most Test centuries in 2009 by an Indian. • The 1st Indian & 4th overall cricketer to hit 5 centuries in 5 consecutive Test matches. • The 1st Indian player to score 300+ runs in 4 consecutive Test series. • The 2nd cricketer (after Sir Viv Richards) to hit 11 fifties in 11 consecutive Test matches. • In IPL 2017, Gautam Gambhir and Chris Lynn made a record opening stand of 184 runs while batting for Kolkata Knight Riders against Gujarat Lions.
Awards/Honours/Achievements	2009- ICC Test Player of the Year award 2009- Arjuna Award (India's 2nd highest sporting award) 2019: On 16 March, the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, honoured him with Padma Shri
Career Turning Point	His performance in the 2007-08 tour to Australia, after which he cemented his place in the Indian team.
Politics
Political Party	Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
Political Journey	• On 22 March 2019, he joined BJP • He contested the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections and won against Congress' Arvinder Singh Lovely by a record margin of 3,91,222 votes
Personal Life
Date of Birth	14 October 1981
Age (as in 2019)	38 Years
Birth Place	New Delhi, India
Zodiac sign/Sun sign	Libra
Signature
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	New Delhi, India
School	Modern School, New Delhi
College/University	Hindu College, New Delhi
Educational Qualification	Graduate
Coach/Mentor(s)	Coach- Sanjay Bharadwaj, Raju Tandon, Naveen Chopra Mentor- Pawan Gulati
Religion	Hinduism
Caste	Khatri
Food Habit	Non-Vegetarian
Address	A bungalow in Rajendra Nagar, central Delhi
Hobbies	Playing badminton, Meditation, Yoga, Listening to music
Controversies	• In 2007, during the 3rd ODI against Pakistan at Kanpur, he had a verbal fight with Shahid Afridi, after having a collision with each other. • In 2010, during an Asia Cup, Pakistan's Kamran Akmal made a loud appeal against Gambhir, which made Gambhir angry and they had a heated argument, but Umpires and players intervened to stop them. • In 2013, during an IPL 6 match between Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Kolkata Knightriders, Gambhir and Virat Kohli had an ugly spat. After getting out, instead of walking back, Kohli made some remarks which angered Gambhir, after which both started abusing each other until Rajat Bhatia intervened. • In 2017, cricketer Gautam Gambhir came to know that two pubs in Delhi- Ghungroo and Hawalat, owned by Gautam Gambhir, (The pub owner with the same name as cricketer Gautam Gambhir) intentionally used cricketer Gambhir's name as a tagline. Being a teetotaller, cricketer Gambhir didn't like it, sent numerous requests, and even a legal notice. But after no response from the pub owner, he filed a complaint against them. In January 2018, the Delhi High Court restrained the pub owner from using his name as their tagline. • When he was contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections from the East Delhi Constituency, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accused Gautam Gambhir of being involved in the distribution of "obscene and derogatory" pamphlets against Atishi Marlena. However, Gambhir dared Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to prove charges against him or quit. He said- "If he [Arvind Kejriwal] can prove that I have anything to do with this pamphlet filth, then I will hang myself in public. Otherwise @ArvindKejriwal should quit politics. Accepted?"
Girls, Affairs & More
Marital Status	Married
Affairs/Girlfriends	Natasha Jain
Marriage Date	28 October 2011
Marriage Place	A farmhouse in Gurugram
Family
Wife/Spouse	Natasha Jain (m. 2011-present)
Children	Son- None Daughters- Aazeen Gambhir (born in 2014), Anaiza Gambhir (born in 2017)
Parents	Father- Deepak Gambhir (Textile businessman) Mother- Seema Gambhir (Homemaker)
Siblings	Brother- None Sister- Ekta Gambhir (Younger)
Favourite Things
Favourite Cricketer	Sourav Ganguly
Favourite Food	Rajma chawal, Butter chicken, Dahi bhalla
Favourite Actor	Sylvester Stallone
Favourite Film(s)	Bollywood- Kahaani, Vicky Donor, Paan Singh Tomar Hollywood- Rambo series
Favourite Singer	Jagjit Singh
Favourite Song	"Woh Kagaz Ki Kashti" by Jagjit Singh
Favourite Destination	United Kingdom
Style Quotient
Car Collection	BMW Gran Turismo
Money Factor
Salary (as in 2018)	₹2.8 crore (IPL 11)
Net Worth (approx.)	₹100 crore

 

Some Lesser Known Facts About Gautam Gambhir

• Does Gautam Gambhir smoke?: No

• Does Gautam Gambhir drink alcohol?: No

• Gautam was born into an upper-middle-class family with a Punjabi background.

• He was just 18 days old when his maternal grandparents, Sat Pal Gulati and Asha Pal Gulati, adopted him from his parents, after which he spent his childhood in Karol Bagh, Delhi.

   

  

  Gautam Gambhir’s maternal grandparents

• He started playing cricket at the age of 10, and was part of his school’s team.

• In 2000, he enrolled himself at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.

   

  

  Gautam Gambhir – National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru

• Cricketer Rajat Bhatia is his school friend, who was also the cricket team captain at his school.

   

  

  Gautam Gambhir in younger days

• He considers Bhagat Singh and Mother Teresa as his inspirations.

• If he wasn’t a cricketer, he would have been a soldier.

• The opening pair of Gambhir and his friend cum teammate Virender Sehwag is counted amongst the most successful batting pair as they had scored their runs at more than 4.5 runs per over.

• His favourite knock was against New Zealand in 2009 at Napier, where he scored 137 runs, in 643 minutes, in the 2nd innings, that helped India save the match.

• He was India’s top scorer in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, with 227 runs, including the 75 runs knock in the finals against Pakistan.

• He played a pivotal role in the 2011 World Cup as he scored 97 runs against Sri Lanka in the World Cup finals.

• Under his captaincy, India had won 6 out of 6 matches.

• Kolkata Knight Riders won IPL Champions in 2012 and 2014 when Gautam was their skipper.

• He had a hair transplant in 2014.

   

  

  Gautam Gambhir before and after hair transplant

• In 2017, he founded ‘The Gautam Gambhir Foundation’, which carries out many philanthropic activities, such as feeding poor people, carrying out the educational expenses of the children of martyred soldiers.

   

  

  Gautam Gambhir As A Volunteer

• Many people were shocked when Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) didn’t retain him in the 2018 IPL auction, after which Delhi Daredevils bought him. Later, it was revealed that before the auction, he requested the KKR management not to bid for him in the auction as he wanted to leave KKR for a different challenge.

• In the midway of IPL 11 in 2018, Shreyas Iyer replaced him as the skipper of ‘Delhi Daredevils’ after he stepped down due to his poor batting performance in the initial matches that led to series of loses for the team.

   

  

  Gautam Gambhir and Shreyas Iyer – Delhi Daredevils

• He is a Teetotaller.

• He is superstitious as he keeps his pads on till the end of every match.

• On 22 March 2019, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party with weeks to go for the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. While joining the party, he said-

  I am impressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision… I have contributed to the field of cricket and now hope to do more for the country.”

  

  Gautam Gambhir Joining BJP