Mumbai, March 26 Gautam Gambhir's fierce competitiveness may have often made him the "villain in the story," but that trait strengthened teams like Kolkata Knight Riders that he was part of, reckoned former South African captain Faf du Plessis.
Two of KKR's title wins in the Indian Premier League came under Gambhir's captaincy, and he has now coached the Indian team to victory in the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy and this year's T20 World Cup.
"My perspective of Gambhir is obviously very different from the players who have played with him. He's always the villain in the story when it comes to playing against him, but you respect that," Du Plessis told JioHotstar.
"...and that's the key thing about Gautam Gambhir – he's so competitive. He doesn't worry about being liked by anyone. His job as a leader is to set high standards and maintain accountability within the team."
Du Plessis said Gambhir sets high standards and accountability in any dressing room – a motivating factor for the opposition captain as well.
"From the outside, as a fellow leader playing against him, you want to beat him because of the way he carries himself as the opposition, but you respect the fact that he sets such high standards," he said.
"That's what good leaders do, and he's created that since the day he started playing. If you look at his record, you have to take your hat off and say, from a leadership perspective, KKR with him was a stronger team," the South African remarked.
Du Plessis, who led Royal Challengers Bengaluru, said the leadership role was not restricted to the captain alone in franchise cricket.
"People always think of the captain when they look at leadership within an organisation or team. Yes, the captain plays a role, but for me, it runs down from the top. It's your owners, coach, and the leadership group within the team," Du Plessis said.
"When you look at successful teams like MI, CSK, and KKR, there's a Gautam with a Shreyas Iyer, or a (MS) Dhoni with a (Stephen) Fleming. Even last year with RCB, you had really strong leadership at the top with Andy Flower and Mo Bobat, but with a very inexperienced captain (Rajat Patidar), for whom it was the first time captaining in the IPL," he said.
The 41-year-old stressed the need for a good captain-coach relationship for the team's success.
"If you have a strong captain, then a lot falls on him because he drives the team. But if you don't have a strong captain, that's when a strong coach steps in, and I suppose that's where Gambhir was so effective," Du Plessis added.