Middle finger row: Does Gautam Gambhir deserve all the hate he gets? The answer is NO.

Being attacked on social media is nothing new for Gautam Gambhir. One of the finest openers of the Indian cricket team, Gautam often becomes a victim of social media trolling and bashing. The recent example being Gautam allegedly showing middle finger to the audience in the stadium during India – Nepal match.

When the attacks get personal

Gautam Gambhir has said that the crowd was chanting "Anti-India" slogans and this is how he reacted to shut them up. Videos going viral show Gautam pointing out the middle finger when crowd started chanting "Kohli Kohli". Needless to mention, the video went viral on social media and trolls showed no mercy towards the former KKR captain. Vile, negative, personal attacks were made on Gautam on social media.

His family, his ethics were questioned. The man was abused and trolled to no end. Now, the question is, does Gautam Gambhir deserve the negativity coming towards him every time he expresses his opinion? Does Gautam Gambhir deserve to be attacked for his thoughts? Does Gautam Gambhir deserve the kind of hate he gets with every action he does and every statement he makes? The answer is a big NO.

Well, Gautam Gambhir's statements and actions might have been slightly out of the line, but then whose hasn't? To begin with, he is not the first cricketer to have shown aggression or the lack of sportsmanship on and off the field.

Cricketers who have shown aggression

How can we forget Harbhajan Singh's highly controversial Monkey gate incident involving Andrew Symonds or the Slap gate incident with S Sreesanth. Bhajji's numerous on field fights with Shoaib Akhtar, Ambati Rayudu and others have remained as the worst chapters in cricket history.

Remember Saurabh Ganguly taking off his shirt in aggression at the Lord's stadium balcony? From intentionally making opposition captains wait for him before toss to his tiffs with Stuart Broad, Russel Arnold's, Mohammad Yousuf and many more. Dada too displayed lack of sportsman spirit at several instances.

Now, coming to Virat Kohli, the man who is known for his rivalry with Gautam Gambhir. Virat Kohli is inarguably the most aggressive cricketer in the game today. His altercations with the crowd in Australia, aggressive sledging against opponents, gestures and most recently his on-field altercation against Naveen Ul Haq and Gambhir.

Gautam's achievements

Secondly, how do we forget that Gautam Gambhir is a man who never got his due. He is also one among those men who brought glory and laurels to the Indian cricket team and played an instrumental part in bringing it to a pedestal. Gambhir has been overlooked and neglected by the cricket fraternity and fans time and again. His achievements often overshadowed.

Let's take a look. Gautam made five consecutive hundreds in test matches, which is the maximum for any Indian and second highest in the world. He made eleven consecutive half centuries which is the maximum for any Indian cricketer and third highest in the world. Key player behind India winning the 2007 T20 World Cup final where he was the highest scorer. Again, the highest scorer for India in the 2011 ODI World Cup final that India won.

Gautam was the only captain to lead KKR to two IPL victories in the year 2012 and 2014. He was the ICC Test Player of the Year 2009. He is the recipient of Arjuna Award and also a Padma Shri awardee.

The bottom line being, there are many cricketers who are nowhere close to what Gautam Gambhir has achieved in his illustrious career. And there are many cricketers who have been probably worse on the fields than him. Middle finger row aside, the man should atleast be allowed to make his point and keep his opinion in peace.