Aakash Chopra speaks in detail about his early days in cricket with Gautam Gambhir

He said that they were never friends and, to begin with, they were competitors.

Aakash Chopra recently spoke about his early days in cricket alongside the now Team India head coach, Gautam Gambhir, as the duo played together for Delhi. Aakash Chopra reflects on the early days when they played for Delhi and had a competitive atmosphere with each other.

In direct competition with each other.

Both openers, Aakash Chopra and Gautam Gambhir, competed for spots in the playing XI. This intense rivalry pushed them to elevate their game. Chopra says that even then, Gautam Gambhir displayed the hunger and aggression that defines him today. Speaking on a podcast with Raj Shamani on YouTube, Chopra said, “We are competitors because we were fighting for one place. Our team was very good. When we were playing, only one of Kohli and Dhawan got the chance to play. The team was like that. In fact, there was no place for even Viru to open the batting. Viru batted four so that we can accommodate one of Shikhar and Virat at 3.”

“We were competitors to begin with.”

Speaking more on Gambhir and him, Chopra said, “We were competitors to begin with. He wasn’t a friend, to be honest. (But he was a) very passionate guy, very hard working, and very serious about his craft. And he scored a lot of runs. But he always wore his heart on the sleeve, was extremely passionate, and could short-fuse very quickly in terms of temperament.”

Speaking more about his experiences with Gautam Gambhir, Aakash Chopra lauded his unwavering passion as a young cricketer, a trait that stood out despite his privileged background. According to Chopra, “He’s a good hearted guy, comes from a very affluent family. For that kid to have that kind of passion… he would be at the ground the whole day. He was born with a golden spoon, not even silver. It’s a different journey, basically like Abhinav Bindra. Gautam has the heart at the right place.”