Gautam Gambhir (About this sound pronunciation (helpinfo); born 14 October 1981) i s an Indian cricketer.

A left-handed batsman, he made his One Day International debut for India in 2003, and played his first Test the following year. Gambhir h ad been a prolific run-scorer in domestic cricket with an average of over 50 but his two successive double-hundreds in 2002 (one of them against the visiting Zi mbabweans) made him a strong contender for India's opening slot. Gambhir became only the fourth Indian batsman to score a double century in a tou r game at home; the previous three being Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar and Sa chin Tendulkar. He is the only Indian batsman to score more than 300 runs in fou r consecutive Test series. He is also the only Indian, and one of only four inte rnational cricketers, to have scored five hundreds in five consecutive test matc hes.[1] On July 2009, for a period of ten days he was the number one ranked bats man in ICC Test rankings.[2][3] Contents 1 Early life 2 International career 2.1 Early career 2.2 2007 2010 2.3 2011 onwards 3 Indian Premier League 3.1 Season by season at IPL 4 List of Test centuries 5 List of ODI centuries 6 Captaincy Record 7 Achievements 8 References 9 External links Early life Gambhir attended Modern School, New Delhi.[4] Gambhir was selected in 2000 for t he first intake of the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.[5] He married Nata sha Jain, who belongs to a prominent business family, on 28 October 2011.[6] International career Early career Gambhir made his ODI debut against Bangladesh in the TVS Cup in 2003. In his thi rd match, he scored 71 and was named Man of the Match. His maiden century (103 o ff 97 balls) came against Sri Lanka in 2005. In 2004, he made his Test debut aga inst Australia in the fourth and last Test match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy b ut did himself no favours by getting out for 3 and 1. He made amends in his seco nd Test, however, scoring 96 against the South Africans. His maiden Test century came against Bangladesh in December 2004. Gambhir then made a number of starts in the home series against Pakistan in 2005, but was able to make only one halfcentury in six innings. He made 97 in Zimbabwe later that year, but failed to re ach 30 against Sri Lanka at home, repeatedly struggling against Chaminda Vaas, a nd was subsequently dropped from the Test team. He was replaced in Tests by Wasi m Jaffer, who made a double hundred and a hundred in seven Tests. While Gambhir was out of the Test team, he played a number of One Day Internatio nals for India between 2005 and 2007. However, he was not selected for the 2007 World Cup as the selectors opted for a top-order of Sourav Ganguly, Virender Seh wag, and Sachin Tendulkar. It affected him badly and Gambhir later said that "Wh en I got dropped for the World Cup, there were times I didn't want to play anymo re. I didn't want to practise. I couldn't motivate myself."[7] With no other car eer options, Gambhir stuck with cricket. After India's first-round exit from the tournament, Gambhir was selected for the One Day International on India's 2007 tour of Bangladesh. Believing the series could be his last chance,[7] Gambhir sc

ored his second century on that tour and was subsequently selected for the One D ay International on India's tour to Ireland in 2007. He scored an unbeaten 80 ag ainst Ireland in the first game of that tour and was awarded the man of the matc h award for that effort. In the post-match interview, he indicated that performi ng more consistently was a top priority for his career as he had done so in the past.[8] 2007 2010 Gambhir was selected in India's squad for the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, which Ind ia went on to win in South Africa, beating Pakistan in the final. Gambhir perfor med well in the shortest form of the game, ending the tournament as India's top run scorer, with 227 at an average of 37.83, including three half-centuries whic h included a crucial 75 runs off 54 balls against Pakistan in the final.[9] 2008 started well for Gambhir. At home, he scored an unbeaten 130 in the Ranji T rophy final to help Delhi beat Uttar Pradesh by nine wickets just two days befor e the team for the ODI tournament in Australia was to be announced. Gambhir was forced to miss the Test series in Australia due to a shoulder injury . In the 2007 08 CB Series, he scored an unbeaten 102 at The Gabba against Sri Lanka in a match washed out due to rain. Three weeks later at Sydney, he scored a car eer-best 113 off 119 balls against Australia, in a high scoring match which Indi a lost by 18 runs. He finished the CB series as the leading run-scorer with 440 runs. In 2008 Gambhir finally solidified his place in the Indian Test team with a stri ng of high scores. Opening the batting with Delhi teammate Virender Sehwag, he s cored 858 runs at over 61 in seven matches as of December including a double cen tury against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. However in the same match he was involved in controversy when he elbowed bowler Shane Watson while taking a run. Gambhir asserted it was accidental, but was banned for one Test.[10] Gamb hir scored 463 runs in the series, which despite missing the last match was more than any other player in the series.[11] He was the leading run-scorer in the Test series against England in December 200 8 and against New Zealand in early-2009, meaning that he had achieved this feat in three consecutive series. Gambhir played his first major Test series outside the sub-continent, having tou red New Zealand in 2009. In the second Test match he scored a match saving 137 i n the second innings. He stood more than five sessions in the middle and faced o ver 430 balls. This innings led Virender Sehwag, Gambhir's opening partner, clos e friend and captain for the match, to call him 'The Second Wall' in reference t o Rahul Dravid. He then scored 167 in the second innings of the Third Test to gi ve India an unassailable lead, but rain helped the New Zealand batsmen to hang o n for a draw. Gambhir, with 445 runs in six innings at an average of 89, helped India win 1 0 to script a series win in that country after 41 years. He was named as the ICC Test Player of the Year for 2009, and was briefly ranked the No. 1 batsman in the ICC rankings in July; at the time India were not playi ng Tests and his points rating did not change, but other batsmen who were ranked higher lost points before regaining them. He continued his run in the late-2009 Test series against Sri Lanka at home. He scored a century in the second innings of the First Test in Ahmedabad to force a draw after the visitors had taken a first innings lead of more than 300, and th en combined in a double century opening partnership with Sehwag on the first day of the Second Test in Kanpur, scoring 167 himself and helping India to score mo re than 400 runs on the opening day. This set up their score of 642 and an innin gs victory. Following the match, Gambhir returned to the top of the ICC rankings

. Gambhir withdrew from the Third and final Test against Sri Lanka at the Brabourn e Stadium in Mumbai in order to attend his sister's wedding. Vijay against stood in and scored 87 to help India win again by an innings. He returned for the ODIs and scored an unbeaten 150 in the fourth match in Calcu tta to help seal the series 3 1, guiding the hosts to victory in the run-chase. In the First Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong in January 2009, Gambhir hit a rapid 116 from 129 balls. It was his fifth century in as many Tests and made h im the fourth player to achieve this feat. Only Don Bradman has managed six cent uries in as many matches. In the 29th Test match against Bangladesh at Dhaka he rewrote the history of IVA Richards by scoring most fifties plus runs in 11 consecutive matches. In this m atch he scored 66 runs. 2011 onwards In the final of the Cricket World Cup 2011, Gambhir scored a solid knock rom 122 balls. Coming in to bat in the first over after the dismissal of r Sehwag, he anchored the Indian inning through the dismissals of Sachin ar and Kohli, and put up a match-winning partnership of 109 runs with MS o ensure India lifted the Cup.[12] of 97 f Virende Tendulk Dhoni t

In 2011, India's batting line-up struggled in Tests, particularly away from home . Out of sixteen innings in away Tests, India passed 300 just twice and both the team's opening batsmen failed to score a century in the format in the whole of 2011.[13] Between February 2010 and November 2011, Gambhir played in 14 Tests. F rom 25 innings he scored 704 runs at an average of 29.33. In the same period, on ly two opening batsmen who had played at least 15 innings had a worse average: P hillip Hughes of Australia and Imrul Kayes of Bangladesh. However, while he was struggling in Tests, Gambhir enjoyed a rich run of form in ODIs, averaging 56.90 from 23 matches.[14] Gambhir opened the batting in all four of India's Test def eats against Australia in 2011 12. He scored 181 runs at an average of 22.62.[15] On 12 February 2012, Gautam Gambhir scored 92 off 111 balls in an ODI match agai nst Australia at the Adelaide Oval, to help India win their first match against the hosts at that venue. It was also India's highest successful run chase in Aus tralia. For his effort, Gambhir won the Man of the Match award.[16] On 14 Februa ry 2012, against Sri Lanka, Gambhir yet again missed out on an ODI hundred when he was dismissed run out for a fine 91 off 106 balls. This knock from Gambhir wa s instrumental in securing a thrilling tie in that match. Indian Premier League Gambhir was picked up by the Delhi Daredevils franchise in the first player auct ion of the Indian Premier League for a price of US$725,000 a year. He became the second highest run-scorer of the inaugural season with 534 runs from 14 matches .[17] He was promoted to the post of Captain of the Delhi Daredevils for IPL Sea son 2010.[18] At the end of the tournament he became the only player from Delhi Daredevils to score more than 1000 runs in the IPL. In the 2011 IPL player auction, Gambhir was the most sought after player, fetchi ng a bid of $2.4 million from The Kolkata Knight Riders, making him the highest paid cricketer in the history of IPL. He was then appointed as the skipper of th e team.[19] Under Gambhir's captaincy, the Kolkata Knight Riders qualified for t he IPL playoffs and also made it to the Champions League Twenty20 for the first time. He eventually led the side to their first title in 2012 by defeating defen ding champions Chennai Super Kings by 5 wickets at their home ground in Chennai. [20] Gamnhir is the leading run-scorer of the Kolkata Knight Riders.[21] During

the same season, and became only the IPL and the Season by season

he scored 6 half-centuries out of a total of nine from his team the second player to cross the 2000 runs mark in the history of second highest run scorer ever in the tournament.[22] at IPL