Gautam Gambhir's stature not less than any cricketer, unfair to judge him for his aggression: Anjum Chopra

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Gautam Gambhir 'might be more but no less than any cricketer' in India, Anjum Chopra has reckoned while praising the former opener, who is set to start his stint as the head coach of Indian cricket with the upcoming T20I series against Sri Lanka.

Gautam Gambhir's predecessor Rahul Dravid made a name for himself with his cool-headed nature which also helped him become a Test great. Dravid made terrific adjustments to his coaching style, especially in the white-ball, despite being a purist of the game himself.

The Indian players including captain Rohit Sharma went on record to applaud Dravid for readily hearing the suggestions from modern-day white-ball cricketers and giving them the freehand to execute their plans.

In contrast Gautam Gambhir has altogether a different personality. He is known for being strong-headed and aggressive which have come to the fore even when he mentored teams in IPL.

Will the Indian dressing room take time to settle down under Gambhir? Will there be a change in style of play under Gambhir? Will Gambhir give the team freedom like Dravid or would force his ideology?

Anjum Chopra opined that it was unfair to compare to greats of the game, also adding that Gautam Gambhir himself must be aware about the job at hand and the challenges coming his way.

"See number one is that it's unfair to compare two established, acclaimed sports people and their style of functioning. You know, Gautam is an accomplished cricketer himself. He is no less than anyone. He might be more, he is not less. I'm not saying that he's more than Dravid or he's more than Ravi bhai or he's more than John Wright. No, I am not comparing. But Gautam is not less than any of the cricketers that we have spoken about or we will speak about," Anjum Chopra told MyKhel.Com in a telephonic interview.

"Gautam is a world champion and in all formats, and he's been a match winner in all formats. So how one player plays the game and the other plays, the game is very different. That is why they are a part of an Indian playing 11. If everyone plays cricket like Rahul Dravid or Gautam Gambhir, then you know everyone is very similar, but the team is not made of similar people. They are different people who come together to play for the same team.

"So in my view, I have I've never kept this thought that, and personally I'm saying and saying it loud that Gautam is not like ... How do I know Gautam? How do you know Gautam? How does anybody know about him? We don't! I have not worked with him. I know him as a player. I know him as a person because he's from Delhi, but so many people know him. But how do we know how he thinks?

"How we how we have seen him has been only as player and as mentor with teams? But how he takes up the responsibility and how he how he gets on to that moving bus of an Indian dressing room, even he'll be aware if he's taken up that job. Sure, he's well aware of what he's getting into," Anjum added.

'Wrong to judge Gambhir for his aggression, even Kohli is aggressive'

Anjum Chopra also asserted that Gautam Gambhir should not be judged for his aggressive nature. She cited the examples of Sourav Ganguly and Virat Kohli to explain that channeled aggression wasn't a bad trait.

"I know all of us have seen a side of Gautam Gambhir which has aggression. But aggression is not bad. Even Sourav Ganguly was very aggressive, even Virat is very aggressive. I don't think we should be judging even before he has stepped on to the park as an Indian coach, right? And I don't think we should judge him at all because of the stature that Gautam Gambhir has in Indian cricket."

'Established cricketer, match-winner, Indian captain': Why it's unfair to judge Gautam Gambhir?

Anjum Chopra dismissed the idea of judging Gautam Gambhir also because of his huge stature in the sport of cricket. She said the 42-year-old has flourished in different capacities, also reminding fans of his famous second innings knock in Napier which helped India pull off an improbable draw. After India conceded a 314-run lead and were made to follow on, Gambhir faced 436 deliveries to score 137 runs. He batted for almost two days as India lost just four wickets in over two days.

"It's unfair to judge Gautam Gambhir just because he is probably a younger lot player or a younger cricketer, I don't think we should judge him at this point of time. I think it's absolutely unfair to judge him. He has been an established cricketer, match-winner, Indian captain who has given results as a captain, who has given results as an opener. He has batted for 200-plus runs and saved a Test match for two-and-a-half days in New Zealand," Anjum said while singing praises for Gambhir.

"So she definitely would be having some thought about how to run this team and even if he has a different style to what earlier coaches have had, whether it's Ravi bhai or Rahul Dravid or whoever, so what? You're supposed to have a different style. You can't have the same template. You have to have a different style. But whichever gets the best out of the players in the most conducive environment, we all work towards that - as a player, as a coach, an an administrator, we all work towards. So everyone brings their own dish to the table," she concluded.