Gautam Gambhir has given his verdict on the India’s greatest captain debate by picking Anil Kumble as the Men in Blue’s top skipper of all time. Many fans and commentators know Gambhir and his unapologetic stance on several issues.
Gautam is the new Global Ambassador for IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and claims Kumble has all the qualities required to be India’s best-ever leader in a cricket pitch. Gambhir made these comments on a YouTube session of the Bada Bharat Show hosted by Vivek Bindra.
The ex-Indian cricketer feels other former skippers like Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, MS Dhoni, Kapil Dev, and Virat Kohli are great. However, he believes Kumble’s leadership trumps them all.
Is This the First Time Gambhir Will Make Such Comments?
Gambhir has always rated Anil Kumble higher than other ex-Indian skippers. He continues to show his sustained sentiment for Gambhir after admiring his leadership skills in previous interviews.
Why Does Gambhir Believe Kumble is India’s Greatest Skipper of All Time?
Gambhir believes Kumble has achieved much more than Dev and Dhoni as India captain; however, his stance is firmly resisted by commentators across board. Captains like Dev, Dhoni, and many more have achieved great success with the national team. These players brought immense success to the Indian cricket scene, but Gambhir begs to disagree.
His recent comments have sparked strong disagreements in several quarters with some contributors slamming him for biased assessments of India’s former captains. However, Gambhir believes Kumble showed distinct leadership throughout his playing career along with improved tactical prowess most skippers lacked as active cricketers.
How Have Fans Taken Gambhir’s Comments?
Many heated debates greeted the comments from Gambhir. Experts weighing into the discourse have differing opinions on the ex-cricketer’s comments. Some commentators agree with Gambhir’s perspective and rate Kumble as a special cricketer. Others believe Kumble is a great cricketer and should be ranked as the best of all time, aligning firmly with Gambhir’s opinions.
However, a good number of sports analysts believe leaving out top cricketers like MS Dhoni and Kapil Dev would be a disservice to their contributions as Team India skippers. Kapil Dev led India to their first-ever ODI World Cup while Dhoni was equally successful with the team over a decade ago. These commentators with differing opinions believe it would be insulting to overlook the performance and contribution of top cricketers like Dhoni and Dev in the greatest skipper conversation.
Anil Kumble Career Stats
Bowling Record
| Format | Mat | Inns | Balls | Runs | Wkts | Ave | Econ | SR | 4w | 5w | 10w |
| Test | 132 | 236 | 40850 | 18355 | 619 | 29.65 | 2.69 | 65.9 | 31 | 35 | 8 |
| ODI | 271 | 265 | 14496 | 10412 | 337 | 30.89 | 4.3 | 43 | 8 | 2 | 0 |
| FC | 244 | – | 66931 | 29347 | 1136 | 25.83 | 2.63 | 58.9 | – | 72 | 19 |
| List A | 380 | – | 20247 | 14178 | 514 | 27.58 | 4.2 | 39.3 | 14 | 3 | 0 |
| T20 | 54 | 54 | 1245 | 1389 | 57 | 24.36 | 6.69 | 21.8 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Batting and Fielding Record
| FORMAT | Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | BF | SR | 100s | 50s | 4s | 6s |
| Test | 132 | 173 | 32 | 2506 | 110 | 17.77 | 6455 | 38.82 | 1 | 5 | 302 | 9 |
| ODI | 271 | 136 | 47 | 938 | 26 | 10.53 | 1536 | 61.06 | 0 | 0 | 57 | 6 |
| FC | 244 | 318 | 61 | 5572 | 154 | 21.68 | – | – | 7 | 17 | – | – |
| List A | 380 | 203 | 73 | 1456 | 30 | 11.2 | – | – | 0 | 0 | – | – |
| T20 | 54 | 21 | 17 | 46 | 8 | 11.5 | 59 | 77.96 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Gautam Gambhir Career Stats
Batting and Fielding Record
| FORMAT | Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | BF | SR | 100s | 50s | 4s | 6s |
| Test | 58 | 104 | 5 | 4154 | 206 | 41.95 | 8067 | 51.49 | 9 | 22 | 518 | 10 |
| ODI | 147 | 143 | 11 | 5238 | 150 | 39.68 | 6144 | 85.25 | 11 | 34 | 561 | 17 |
| T20I | 37 | 36 | 2 | 932 | 75 | 27.41 | 783 | 119.02 | 0 | 7 | 109 | 10 |
| FC | 198 | 331 | 24 | 15153 | 233 | 49.35 | – | – | 43 | 68 | – | – |
| List A | 299 | 292 | 19 | 10077 | 151 | 36.91 | – | – | 21 | 60 | – | – |
| T20 | 251 | 245 | 24 | 6402 | 93 | 28.96 | 5309 | 120.58 | 0 | 53 | 747 | 90 |
Bowling Record
| FORMAT | Mat | Inns | Balls | Runs | Wkts | Ave | Econ | SR | 4w | 5w | 10w |
| Test | 58 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 0 | – | 2 | – | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ODI | 147 | 1 | 6 | 13 | 0 | – | 13 | – | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| T20I | 37 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| FC | 198 | – | 397 | 281 | 7 | 40.14 | 4.24 | 56.7 | – | 0 | 0 |
| List A | 299 | – | 37 | 36 | 1 | 36 | 5.83 | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| T20 | 251 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
