November 15, 2007

So-Nil (in PR) Gavaskar

The mention of the word 'Sydney', at this point of time, would result in the recollection of all the ensuing fracas in the so called gentleman's game. A lot of ink has been wasted by a lot of people trying to shout at top of their voices on how Bucknor is a secret ISI agent sent to annihilate the Indian cricket team or whether Ponting should enrol for the Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's newly launched course titled "The art of playing".

And one voices among the present mob is of Sunil Gavaskar, who claims to be a commentator, very patriotic in nature who breaks down in the studio every time India record an overseas win. Though most of us have conveniently forgotten that he is also the the chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee and thus responsible for keeping the reputation of ICC intact but what we have seen of him in this episode is him lambasting the ICC left, right and center and even hinting at a racism claim against one of the ICC Referees. This is what he says:
Millions of Indians want to know if was a 'white man' taking the 'white man's' word against that of the 'brown man'. Quite simply if there was no audio evidence nor did the officials hear anything then the charge did not stand... This is what has incensed the millions of Indians who are flabbergasted that the word of one of the greatest players in the history of the game, Sachin Tendulkar, was not accepted. In effect, Tendulkar has been branded a liar by the match-referee.
Pretty naive and hasty for a man like Sunil Gavaskar to voice an opinion of such nature. Somebody truly needs to remind him that some part of his monthly wage is also contributed by the ICC.

1 comment:

Mohan K.V said...

I agree with you that his post-match histrionics are too stretched, but imho, there's nothing wrong in him voicing his opinion, even if it is against the ICC from which he gets part of his salary.

I don't see any inconsistency here, so what if he's the Chairman? He's _only_ the Chairman, not the Fuhrer.. He can do nothing about referee decisions, and has no obligations to keep up the ICC's reputation in the face of such blatant unfairness.

Art of Playing and Sri Sri, LOL :D