Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir (; born 14 October 1981) is an Indian politician, philanthropist and former cricketer, who has played all formats of the game. He played an integral role in India's win in two ICC Knock-outs. He is a current member of the Lok Sabha since 2019. He received the Padma Shri from the Government of India in 2019, the fourth highest civilian award in India.Gambhir is from a very influential Delhi-based business family. As a cricketer, he was a left-handed opening batsman who played domestic cricket for Delhi, and captained Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He made his One Day International (ODI) debut against Bangladesh in 2003, and played his first Test the following year against Australia. He captained the Indian team in six ODIs from late 2010 to late 2011 with India winning all six matches. He played an integral part in India's wins in the finals of both the 2007 World Twenty20 (75 runs from 54 balls) and the 2011 Cricket World Cup (97 from 122). Under Gambhir's captaincy, Kolkata Knight Riders won their first IPL title in 2012 and went on to win the title again in 2014.

Gambhir was the only Indian and one of four international cricketers to have scored hundreds in five consecutive Test matches. He is the only Indian batsman to have scored more than 300 runs in four consecutive Test series. As of April 2018, he is the sixth highest run-scorer for India in Twenty20 Internationals.

In October 2018, during the quarter-finals of the 2018–19 Vijay Hazare Trophy, he scored his 10,000th run in List A cricket. In December 2018, he announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. In 2019, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and won election to the Lok Sabha from East Delhi.

He was conferred 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, he was the recipient of the ICC Test Player of the Year award. He has served as the mentor of Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League, till 2022. He is currently the mentor of Kolkata Knight Riders for the upcoming edition of the IPL.