Bengaluru stampede: 'Celebrating wins are important, but not at the cost of lives' - Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir

Mumbai:Gautam Gambhir was critical of the victory celebrations of IPL champions RCB in Bengaluru on Wednesday, which resulted in a stampede, leaving 11 people dead and many injured.“I was never a believer that we need to have roadshows to celebrate victories. I held that opinion even when I was playing. I said it after 2007 too (victory parade in Mumbai after India’s World T20 win) that we should not have such road shows. The lives of people are far more important and we need to be more responsible,” Gambhir said.Questioning the requirement for roadshows to celebrate sporting wins, Gambhir stressed on the need for more planning if at all such events are planned in the future.“We can probably have it in a closed room or a stadium. My heart goes out to the families who have lost loved ones. I hope that in the future nothing like this ever happens again. We are all responsible citizens. If we were not ready to hold a roadshow, we should have done it in a simpler way. Celebrating wins are important, but not at the cost of lives. You cannot at any point of time lose 11 people.”For the record, Gambhir was not in favour of a roadshow and celebrations in Kolkata even after KKR’s maiden IPL win in 2012.