"Devotion to motherland" - Gautam Gambhir pays tribute to Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj ahead of 2025 Champions Trophy

Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir paid tribute to Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj ahead of the upcoming 2025 Champions Trophy. He seemed mighty impressed by the former king's devotion to the motherland.

The second Chhatrapati of the Maratha empire, Chhatrapati Sambhaji's life has become a big talking point lately. A Bollywood film based on his life was released on February 14. The Vicky Kaushal starrer has taken the Indian box office by storm, reportedly collecting over ₹140 core in four days.

Hailing Chhatrapati Sambhaji's devotion, Gambhir wrote on the microblogging platform X:

"𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐡𝐚𝐣𝐢 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐣 Devotion to Motherland!"

Gautam Gambhir is in Dubai with the Indian team for the 2025 Champions Trophy. The ICC event makes a return after a gap of eight years. The competition will feature the top eight teams of ODI cricket.

Defending champions Pakistan will host the tournament. However, India refused to send their team to the neighboring country due to security concerns. The Men in Blue will play all their matches at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

---

"U can smile also" - Yuvraj Singh's hilarious comment on Gautam Gambhir's Instagram post

Gautam Gambhir recently shared a photo on Instagram of him where he could be seen enjoying some Indian desserts. Sharing the picture, the cricketer-turned-coach captioned the post:

"Life is short, make it sweet!"

Gambhir's former Team India teammate Yuvraj Singh reacted to the caption with a hilarious comment, asking the erstwhile opening batter to smile more. He wrote:

"Gg if life is short then u can smile also 😁."

Responding to Singh's comment, Gambhir wrote:

"Arre see my previous posts. Waise I always smile when u r around!"

Screenshot of Singh and Gambhir's comments.

It is worth mentioning that the 2025 Champions Trophy will be Gambhir's first ICC event as Team India's head coach. The Rohit Sharma-led side will take on Bangladesh in their opening encounter on Thursday, February 20.