A fierce rivalry dating back to 2007 has been renewed once again as former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi launched a scathing attack on former India cricketer, Gautam Gambhir, in his new book 'Game Changer', citing how the ex-India batsman had no personality and had major 'attitude' problems.
Afridi referred to his rivalry with Gambhir as 'personal' and had no hesitation on taking an open jibe at the former India batsman. The former Pakistan cricketer's autobiography has been doing rounds in the news where he also revealed his actual age.
Afridi wrote in his book,"Some rivalries were personal, some professional. First the curious case of Gambhir. Oh poor Gautam. He & his attitude problem. He who has no personality. He who is barely a character in the great scheme of cricket. He who has no great records just a lot of attitude.”
“Gambhir behaves like he’s a cross between Don Bradman & James Bond. In Karachi we call guys like him saryal (burnt up). Its simple, I like happy, positive people. Doesn’t matter if they are aggressive or competitive, but you have to be positive & Gambhir wasn’t,” Afridi further wrote.
However, Afridi didn't stop their either. The rivalry began back in 2007 when Afridi and Gambhir were involved in a feud during an India vs Pakistan ODI. The two players were fined for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct. Recalling the incident which took place, Afridi said that the umprires had to finish the matter, or he would himself see to it.
“I remember the run-in with Gambhir during the 2007 Asia Cup, when he completed his single while running straight into me. The umpires had to finish it off or I would have. Clearly we had a frank bilateral discussion about each other’s female relatives.”
Earlier, Rajasthan Royals coach Paddy Upton also took a dig at the former India batsman, calling him 'insecure, negative and pessimistic' in his book.
In his book, Upton wrote: "I did some of my best and least effective mental conditioning work with Gambhir, the International Test Cricketer of the Year in 2009. I worked with him up until that time, but I had little to do with him being named the world's best cricketer.
"Often, when I got onto the Indian team bus, Gautam would invite me to sit next to him. What followed was predictable: 'Paddy, man, I know I just scored 100, but I should have got 200. I mishit too many balls, I struggled in the beginning, I hit the fielder too many times ... It just wasn't good enough. I need to sort things out.' He would be in mental agony about losing his wicket and about needing to fix things. He was so riddled with insecurities, doubts and vulnerabilities. He was one of the most negative people I have ever worked with."
