From troll target to trophy magnet: This is Gautam Gambhir's era

Just imagine how easy it would’ve been for all of us to blame Gautam Gambhir if we had lost the Asia Cup final against Pakistan after benching Arshdeep Singh.

So, where are those people now who were probably waiting to troll him? Do they have the courage to come forward and praise the team management’s decisions now?

Every single call from Gambhir has clicked so far. When Team India's Asia Cup squad didn't feature Shreyas Iyer, fans lost it. Many even claimed that Iyer should have been in the squad in place of Tilak Varma. Now imagine if Tilak wasn't backed for the tournament?

Remember how Gambhir included Varun Chakravarthy in the Champions Trophy squad at the last hour? That took the spinners' count in the team to 5, and most experts thought it would backfire. The result? Chakravarthy ended up picking 9 wickets in 3 games, and Team India won the tournament undefeated.

And the boldest call of them all was to move ahead of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in Test cricket. It didn't go down well with the fans then, and they said, "You’ll only understand their value when they’re gone." But what followed? India drew the Test series in England 2-2 under a young captain in Shubman Gill. Gauti's decision to put his trust in Gill with the leadership role also paid rich dividends as he smashed 754 runs in 5 Tests.

Even skipper Suryakumar Yadav acknowledged Gambhir after the Asia Cup final. In an interview, he said, "After every over, 3 overs, I look at the dugout. I look at him, and he has something for me. Because from the outside, the game looks completely different. Sometimes there are so many things running in my mind when I'm on the ground - who to bowl, what field placement to do. But whenever he is inside and as soon as he signals anything from outside, I just do it without thinking."

"So, that's the level of trust we have in each other. And this game also, if you see the team, we unfortunately missed Hardik, and we wanted an extra batter also in this game because Abhishek and Shubman were batting beautifully. Touchwood, they continue to do so. But someday... It's a game of cricket, it can be 10/2 or 20/3 or even 40/4. For that time, we needed an extra batter. He said Shivam Dube will take the responsibility, I'm damn sure. And I was like, you feel it? He was like, Yes, I feel it. And I said, Ok, let's do it. Let's not have further discussion on it, let him bowl the new ball, let him take that responsibility, and that's what he did on the field."

Everything happens according to its timeline, and right now, it’s Gambhir’s era. He won the T20 World Cup, the ODI World Cup, and IPL trophies as a player, and now, as a coach, he’s doing wonders too. Trolls and PR agents can keep crying because Gauti will keep bringing trophies home. He may be hated by many, but is defeated by none. He's the man, the myth, the legend. He's Gautam Gambhir.