The batting legend Sunil Gavaskar expressed his displeasure over T Natarajan not being given the permission to return home and see his newborn daughter while captain Virat Kohli getting a paternity leave.
Gavaskar slams BCCI
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has ripped into the team management over ‘double standards’ when it comes to the treatment of players. Gavaskar slams BCCI for not allowing T Natarajan to return home post his service while Virat Kohli alone return home for the birth of his first child.
Natarajan was blessed with his first child while he was busy playing the IPL 2020 in the UAE. From there, he went to Australia straightaway after receiving his maiden call-up.
Initially, he was picked only as a net bowler but was later added to the ODI and the T20I squads due to injury to other players. He made his ODI as well as T20Is debuts in Australia and made a big impression.
“(T Natarajan) had become a father for the first time even as the IPL playoffs were going on. He was asked to stay on for the (Australia) Test series but not as a part of the team but as a net bowler. Imagine that. A match winner, albeit in another format, being asked to be a net bowler,” Sunil Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
Natarajan continuous as Net bowler
After the conclusion of the T20Is, he was asked to stay back and provide his services as a net bowler, much to the surprise of Sunil Gavaskar.
T Natarajan has continued to be impressive in the nets, beaten the outside edge of both Pujara and Rahane in the last 15 minutes #AusvIND pic.twitter.com/riZPMwYh5l
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) December 24, 2020
The former cricketer-turned-commentator was baffled with Natarajan not getting permission to meet his daughter while Kohli getting a paternity leave despite being a part of the Test side.
Expressing his disappointment over it, Sunil Gavaskar emphasised that there needs to be the same set of rules for every single player.
“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 (Virat Kohli) going back after the first Test for the birth of his first child. That’s Indian cricket. Different rules for different people, “ Sunil Gavaskar added.
