GAUTAM & NATASHA GAMBHIR

THE FORMER BATSMAN AND HIS GORGEOUS WIFE INVITE US INTO THEIR HOME, WHERE THEY REMINISCE OVER HIS EXTRAORDINARY CAREER, SHARE THE JOYS OF RAISING TWO BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS AND ACCEPT THE CHALLENGES OF SERVING THE COUNTRY, FOLLOWING HIS FORAY INTO POLITICS

- PRIYA KUMARI RANA

Driving through a shady bylane in Delhi, I double check my Google Maps by slowing down and asking a vegetable seller, “Gautam Gambhir ka ghar?” He tells me to go straight down the road and hang a right. As I enter the spacious atrium of the former cricketer and now Lok Sabha member’s multi-storeyed house that overlooks a leafy park — right into the all-white lounge where our HELLO! shoot is underway — the first thing that hits the eye is the perfectly arranged wall of trophies won over the span of a 15-year international career.

“It’s all Natasha’s work,” says Gautam Gambhir, who’s dressed in a sharp, dark blazer, white shirt and tapered black pants, of his wife’s impeccable arrangement of accolades that highlight the extraordinary career of the former cricketer.

Gautam retired as the undefeated Team India captain of One-Day Internationals. Besides storied wins as the skipper of the Delhi Daredevils, he was also the tournament-winning captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders and gave the country an unforgettable performance in India’s 2011 World Cup win against Sri Lanka.

The mind-boggling display of his cricketing prowess in a single room is enough to make any sports fan go weak in the knees. There’s the framed famous blue T-shirt he wore during the 2011 World Cup-winning match, a photograph of him accepting the Padma Shri in 2019, the Arjuna Award he won in 2014, the IPL Man of the Match Award from 2016… The list of medals and honours goes on!