Another battle for Gambhir to fight

Gautam Gambhir was never a great player to watch; he didn't have great technique, but always waged a battle of mind over his body, says Sriram Veera in Bangalore Mirror. Now, Veera says, despite his being dropped, it doesn't necessarily mean he'll lie down and surrender his international career.

Gautam Gambhir was a player who once made you care for him. Earnestness seeped through his visage. Here was an international player who openly talked about his insecurities, self-doubts, and his struggles. Even when he failed, he made you step back from the passions of the moment to understand, through his innate sincerity, the darker and deeper motivations that run through a sportsman trying to battle it out at the top. Somewhere in the last 18 months, that old Gambhir began to fade away ...

The first step is acceptance. Some of us arrive at that stage a tad too early, almost in panic, some never do, and some like Gambhir try avoiding that stage. He was definitely lucky that there was no great competition to his spot and he kept getting chances ... [Now] signs of his combative spirit popped up on his twitter page last Sunday, the day he was dropped for the first two Tests against Australia. "No sympathies plz … Had my bak to d wall in d past 2, dis is no difrent. Will fight," he tweeted. Hopefully this is an acceptance that he needs to improve and not a closing of walls inside his mind.