Gautam Gambhir dismisses reports of joining politics

Gautam Gambhir dismissed reports of him joining politics by saying that it was nothing more than a rumour. The recently-retired Indian opener also admitted that Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was the most difficult bowler that he faced in his career.

When asked about the reports that the southpaw was set to join BJP and contest for a Lok Sabha seat, the former Indian opener told the Mumbai Mirror: "It is all a rumour. I don't know who started it."

When asked about the most difficult bowler that he has faced, the southpaw picked the all-time leading Test wicket-taker despite his impressive record against him.

"It has to be Muttiah Muralitharan. What a bowler, he was a magician. I used to watch his hand very closely and would pick him 7-8 times out of 10. His biggest strength was control and consistency," Gambhir said.

In international cricket, Gambhir has faced up against the wily off-spinner in 26 matches and has been dismissed just seven times across both ODIs and Tests. He also has a good record against him, which the numbers clearly show.

Despite facing the Sri Lankan off-spinner in nine Test matches, Gambhir was dismissed just four times by him and even then had a healthy average of 69.75 against him. In ODIs as well, the southpaw had a very good record against him, having been dismissed just thrice in 17 matches and averaging an incredible 93.33 against the spin wizard from Sri Lanka.

The 37-year-old also added that India are currently in transition and will find it difficult to win in Australia. While he remained non-committal about who was going to win the series, he did add that the hosts are a handful in their own backyard.

"Heart says India, but mind says Australia," he added.