Gautam Gambhir, who is known for his outspoken personality, took a brutal dig at Kirti Azad, who criticized the Indian team management for taking the 2026 T20 World Cup trophy to the Hanuman Temple in Ahmedabad soon after defeating New Zealand to win the final by 96 runs.
Team India’s head coach hit back at Azad, saying there is no point in raising some statements as these statements will only shape the bigger achievement.
On Kirti Azad, Gautam Gambhir said, this question is not even worth answering.
Speaking to ANI, Gautam Gambhir said that amidst the major achievements of the country, this question is not even worth answering. The statements of 1983 World Cup winner and Trinamool Congress MP Kirti Azad can harm the hard work of the players who had given their all to win the third T20 World Cup title.
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“It’s not even worth answering that question. To answer that question, it’s a big moment for the entire country. If you ask me, it’s a big moment for our entire country. I think it’s important that we celebrate the World Cup winner. That’s why I said certain statements; there is no point in raising certain statements, because these statements will only dilute your achievement”, Gautam Gambhir said during an interaction with ANI.
“If you want to belittle the achievements and efforts of those 15 players, then anyone can make a statement tomorrow and we will start taking it seriously, which is not fair to the boys,” he said.
Gautam Gambhir praised the players for working hard to capture the trophy
Focusing on the moment when Team India was under immense pressure after losing to South Africa in the Super 8 stage of the tournament, Gautam Gambhir said the pressure-packed situation the players went through should be widely appreciated rather than making demoralizing comments.
Gambhir said, “Imagine how much the boys have gone through – how much pressure they were under after losing a match in South Africa. Today, if you are making such a statement, you are really humiliating your players and humiliating your team, which should not be done.”
Kirti Azad raised questions on Suryakumar Yadav and Jai Shah
Referring to captain Suryakumar Yadav and ICC Chairman Jay Shah, Kirti Azad wrote in her ‘X’ post, “Why is the Indian cricket trophy being dragged? Why not a mosque? Why not a church? Why not a Gurudwara? This team represents India – not Sury Kumar Yadav or Jay Shah’s family! Siraj never paraded it in a mosque. Sanju never took it to a church. The latter played a key role in it and was the man of the tournament.”
Team India should be ashamed! 😡
When we won the World Cup in 1983 under the leadership of Kapil Dev, we had Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians in our team.
We brought the trophy to our religious birthplace, our motherland India India Hindustan
After all, why is the Indian cricket trophy being pulled…
– Kirti Azad (@KirtiAzaad) 9 March 2026
At the time of writing, Azad’s much-talked-about ‘X’ post has 8.6K comments, 5.5K shares and 25K ‘likes’. He shared the post on the evening of March 9.
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