"There's a lot of history behind that" - When Gautam Gambhir candidly revealed why he does not smile a lot

Former India cricketer and current head coach Gautam Gambhir is known as a batting hero, who top-scored for India in the 2007 T20 World Cup final as well as the 2011 ODI World Cup final. The Men in Blue won both games.

At the same time, Gambhir is also seen as an enigmatic personality - someone who hardly smiles. Right through his playing days, the southpaw was regarded as a resilient cricketer who was hard on himself, sometimes too much. Not much has changed since retirement, as the former Delhi cricketer continues to hold his serious looks although he has been seen smiling a couple of times.

In an interview to ESPNcricinfo in 2018, Gambhir had opened on the reasons behind his serious and extremely determined personality. He had explained:

"Look, I can be both. I can be the quietest person off the field and I can be the most aggressive person on the cricket field. There are these two faces that I have, the reason is completely different. I like being aggressive on the cricket field because I haven't gotten anything so easily. I had to fight for everything when it comes to my profession."

The former India batter had claimed that he was snubbed from an early age when it came to cricketing opportunities which, he felt, he deserved. He spoke about not being picked in the U-19 World Cup squad despite having scored heavily and having to work extremely hard to be part of the Ranji Trophy team. Gambhir also opined that he should have been part of India's 2007 ODI World Cup squad.

"And then, 2007, again I still believe that I should have been part of that World Cup team which went to West Indies, and I missed it, and that was probably the lowest moment of my career. So nothing had come easy to me. I could never afford to let my guard down, and that is probably the only reason I could not smile more and could not enjoy more as well," he had said.

"A lot of times people have asked me this, that I don't smile enough, but there's a lot of history behind that as well. Everyone wants to smile; everyone wants to enjoy as well, but I couldn't, because I wish I could have got things easily, and I didn't get it, so that probably was the reason why I had to be aggressive and had to fight every inch to get where I wanted," Gambhir had added.

The former India batter scored 75 off 54 in the 2007 T20 World Cup final against Pakistan in Johannesburg. He compiled 97 off 122 in the 2011 ODI World Cup final against Sri Lanka in Mumbai.

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A glance at Gambhir's stats in international cricket

Gambhir played 58 Tests, 147 ODIs and 37 T20Is for India between 2003 and 2016. He scored 4,154 runs in Tests at an average of 41.95. The southpaw totaled 5,238 runs in one-dayers, averaging 39.68. In T20Is, the Delhi cricketer scored 932 runs at an average of 27.41 and a strike rate of 119.02.