Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir ( pronunciation; born 14 October 1981), affectionately known as Gauti, is one of the leading cricketers in the Indian cricket team. A left-handed opening batsman, who can also play in the middle order, he made his One Day International debut for India against Bangladesh in 2003, and played his first Test the following year, this time against Australia. He was the captain of the ODI team from late-2010 to late-2011. He is currently the highest run-scorer for India in the Twenty20 Internationals and 9th highest in the ODIs. Follow Indian team-mate Virender Sehwag called him "the best Indian opener since Sunil Gavaskar".

Gambhir represents Delhi in first-class cricket and has been a prolific run-scorer in domestic cricket with an average of over 50. His two successive double-hundreds in 2002 (one of them against the visiting Zimbabweans) made him a strong contender for India's opening slot in all three forms of the game. He played and served as Captain for the Delhi Daredevils franchise in the Indian Premier League for three years before he was appointed skipper for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2011. He is the highest paid cricketer in the history of IPL with a salary of $2.4 million. Under Gambhir's captaincy, the Kolkata Knight Riders won their first title in 2012. Gambhir played an integral part in leading India to victory in both the final of the 2011 Cricket World Cup (97 from 122 balls) and the inaugural 2007 World Twenty20 (75 from 54 balls).

Gambhir became only the fourth Indian batsman to score a double century in a tour game at home; the previous three being Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar and Sachin Tendulkar. He is the only Indian batsman to score more than 300 runs in four consecutive Test series. He is also the only Indian, and one of only four international cricketers, to have scored five hundreds in five consecutive test matches. He was conferred with the Arjuna Award, India's second highest sporting award in the year 2008 by the President of India. In 2009, he was the number one ranked batsman in ICC Test rankings. The same year, Gambhir was the recipient of the ICC Test Player of the Year award.