Fans of Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday came out in his defence after a scathing article by Sunil Gavaskar who called out the team management for 'different rules for different people'. Gavaskar's criticsim was in reference to Virat Kohli's paternity leave while newcomer T Natarajan is yet to see his newborn daughter.
After the loss in first Test against Australia at Adelade, skipper Kohli returned home on Tuesday for the birth of his first child next month with actor wife Anushka Sharma. The next Test is in Melbourne from December 26.
Gavaskar aslo cited the example of R Ashwin, who is "sidelined" if he "doesn’t take heaps of wickets in one game" while the same "does not happen to established batsmen".
In a column on Sportstar, Gavaskar said Ashwin "has suffered not for his bowling ability...but for his forthrightness and speaking his mind at meetings where most others just nod even if they don’t agree."
Another player who will wonder about the rules, Gavaskar wrote, is newcomer Natarajan had become a father for the first time even as the IPL playoffs were going on.
"He will thus return home only after the series ends in the third week of January and get to see his daughter for the first time then. And there is the captain going back after the first Test for the birth of his first child," he added.
"That’s Indian cricket. Different rules for different people. If you don’t believe me ask Ravi Ashwin and T Natarajan," he concluded.
Kohli fans came out in strong support of the skipper, saying that cricket is a profession and not someone's entire life. Let's see some of the responses here:
However, there were those who agreed with Gavaskar and attacked the BCCI and Kohli:
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