Former cricketer and Lok Sabha MP Gautam Gambhir has courted controversy with his tweet on Indian men's hockey team's victory for a bronze at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics. Gambhir, in a tweet, termed this win bigger than any of India’s achievements in cricket.
"Forget 1983, 2007 or 2011, this medal in Hockey is bigger than any World Cup! #IndianHockeyMyPride," tweeted Gambhir.
Forget 1983, 2007 or 2011, this medal in Hockey is bigger than any World Cup! #IndianHockeyMyPride 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/UZjfPwFHJJ
— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) August 5, 2021
Gambhir's tweet, however, did not go well with many on Twitter, particularly cricket fans. Expressing their anger against the former cricketer's statement, netizens said it was not right to compare different games.
“Being the hero of 2007 and 2011 World Cup Still u are saying this .... Why!!!!!!!,” tweeted one person while another said that there shouldn't be any comparison between winning WC in cricket and gold in any other sport.
Thanks to our great keepers pic.twitter.com/YD9VPCItGr
— Rofl Gandhi 2.0 🏹🚜 (@RoflGandhi_) August 5, 2021
Some also took a subtle dig at Gambhir who, in the past, has repeatedly suggested that victories of 2007 and 2011 were due to the team efforts rather than captain MS Dhoni, who is often credited for the achievements.
“Thanks to our great keepers,” commented one user along with the pictures of Dhoni and hockey goalkeeper Sreejesh. Another person tweeted, “Does hockey keeper steal the credit too?”
However, there were also many who spoke in support of Gambhir. “Wow !! That's a huge thing coming from a cricketer. Needs guts to say it. Hats off,” a Twitter user replied.
He won 2 world cups for India. It's his own achievements,not other's.
— Ethan 001 (@001Ethan) August 5, 2021
Gambhir, who has never shied away from speaking his mind on important events, especially those related to sports, has on many occasions spoken against the habit of 'hero-worship'.
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