When Virat Kohli applied for and got paternity leave ahead of the birth of his child, people were divided about this. How can someone put their personal life before the nation said many (as though cricket is a sacred duty). Others applauded the gesture that seems to indicate that Kohli wants to be a hands-on dad. Sunil Gavaskar waded into the controversy by pointing out that another Indian player became a dad months ago, but has not been granted leave to go visit his daughter.
Gavaskar called out the team management for behaving differently with different players. He pointed out that while Kohli got paternity leave before the birth of his child, bowler T Natarajan has not met the little daughter who was born during the IPL playoffs.
Gavaskar also pointed out what he thought was the unfair treatment meted out to a player like R Ashwin, who is sometimes sidelined for little reason other than being outspoken.
They endorsed the view that the Indian cricket team management metes out preferential treatment to players based on a certain power structure.
They felt that Kohli is entitled to the personal decisions he takes. The tweeple also recalled how Gavaskar had made a rather tasteless comment about Virat's poor form being due to the sort of lockdown ‘practice’ he got.
As in the case of all mindless devotion, many fans of Kohli saw Gavaskar’s views as an attack on Kohli. So, the troll army came for Gavaskar as well.
People trolled Gavaskar in the mistaken assumption that he was criticising Kohli, when in fact the team management was the main aim of his criticism.
As the independent news publication News Laundry points out, Gavaskar himself had faced a similar situation back in 1976. He was expecting to become a father while on tour of the West Indies. However, the BCCI did not allow him to fly back to Mumbai for the birth at the time.
Some thought that it is quite possible that Natarajan, who was flown to Australia directly after the completion of the IPL may not even have applied for leave.
It could well be that a relative newcomer like him would prefer to keep his head down and consolidate his position in the team. Maybe he didn’t ask to take time off for personal reasons; maybe the last thing he wanted was a controversy like this one.
People who view playing cricket as some sort of sacred national duty need to get over themselves. This is a game; it is entertainment. No more, no less.
In cricket, it is the cult of the superstar where players like Kohli get preferential treatment. In all other spheres of public life in India as well, inequality is the default position. There is one set of rules for the hoi polloi and a whole other set for powerful people. The yardstick to measure the deeds of the common folk is wholly different from the one used to measure the deeds and misdeeds of the high and mighty. Why are we – or why is Gavaskar – surprised that superstar Virat Kohli functions by one set of rules while a whole other set of rules applies to Natarajan? This is pretty much par for the course.
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