Gautam Gambhir retires from cricket: 10 interesting facts about the man and the cricketer

Gautam Gambhir will always be remembered for his innings in the finale of T20 World cup in 2007 and in the finals of ICC World cup 2011. He scored 57 and 97 runs respectively and took India to a commanding position on both the occasions. India eventually won both the tournaments. (Image: AFP)

In 2009, Gambhir became 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 also scored most runs and centuries in ODIs by an Indian in 2008. He scored most centuries in test cricket by an Indian in 2009. Gambhir was conferred the Arjuna Award, India's second highest sporting award, in the year 2008 by the President of India. (Image: AFP)

India has never lost a match under Gambhir's captaincy. He captained the Indian team in six ODIs from late-2010 to late-2011 with India winning all six matches. (Image: AFP)

Gambhir is the only Indian cricketer to score 5 consecutive test centuries. The only others to achieve this feat are Bradman, Kallis and Mohd Yousuf. He is the second batsman after Sir Vivian Richards to score 11 consecutive half centuries. (Image: AFP)

Gautam Gambhir is known as a nationalist and a humanitarian- he is very vocal about issues related to national pride. He has also backed his words with action. He is paying for the education of the kids of CRPF jawans martyred in Chhattisgarh and Zohra, daughter of a J&K police ASI killed by terrorists. (Image: File Photo)

Gautam Gambhir's GG foundation does a lot of work for the welfare of people. It has started a community kitchen where poor are given free food. Gambhir announced his opening of the kitchen through a tweet, ‘Compassion in my heart, a plate in my hand & a prayer on my lips ‘No one should sleep hungry’. (Image: PTI File Photo)

Gautam Gambhir has been a great supporter of the rights of transgender people. He uses his soical media popularity to make people aware about transgender issues. He keeps highlighting their struggles in tweets and posts. He also celebrated Raksha Bandhan with the trans community. (Image: Facebook)

Gambhir bagged a whopping deal of 2.5 million dollar for Kolkata Knight Riders and became the most expensive player in the history of IPL at that time. He the led KKR to two IPL titles before returning to Delhi Daredevils. (Image: AFP)

Gambhir was adopted by his grandparents soon after he was born and has always lived with them. Eighteen days after Gautam was born, his mother was discharged from the hospital and on the way home, stopped by at his grandparents’ home to show off her newborn. His grandparents immediately took such a liking to him that they insisted he stay on. (Image: PTI)

Gambhir’s married Natasha Jain in 2011. He is a father to two daughters Aazeen and Anaiza. His hobbies are reading and going for long drives with his family. He loves playing games on PlayStation. (Image: File Photo)