Anuskha Sharma reacted to Sunil Gavaskar's comment on her Instagram feed. Today, Sunny just hit a square cut to clear all the doubts declaring 'Don't pay attention to the headline makers'. Yesterday, during the match between Kings Eleven Punjab and the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunil Gavaskar commented on the absence of practice for cricketers. He also mentioned Anuska's name as Virat Kohli, the RCB captain didn't practice a lot "except against her". This was his actual commentary "Inhone lockdown me toh bas Anushka ki gendon ki practice ki hai, (he has only faced Anushka's bowling in the lockdown)" which ignited a blaze in the social media. This statement hurt Anuskha's feelings as she detailed her feelings in an Instagram post.
"Mr. Gavaskar your message is distasteful is a fact but I would love for you to explain why you thought of making such a sweeping statement on a wife accusing her of her husband’s game? I am sure over the years you have respected the private lives of every cricketer while commentating on the game".
She continued her statement "It’s 2020 and things still don’t change for me. When will I stop getting dragged into cricket and stop being used to pass sweeping statements? Respected Mr. Gavaskar, you are a legend whose names stand tall in this gentleman’s game. Just wanted to tell you what I felt when I heard you say this." This also didn't go down well with her fans and followers. The Twitteratti continues to bash the senior cricketer for hours following the post.
Gavaskar reacted to his commentator partner, Akash Chopra's question regarding this matter. He explained the matter in easy language- "I simply commented on the fact that all the cricketers around the world couldn't practice in the midst of the pandemic. I along with others watched Virat practice against his wife Anuskha. So I said he only practiced against her. None else. That was not enough. He got out many balls later after that comment. Later he added, "I have clarified the things. Do not comment or decide before you have watched the clip. Do not pay attention to the headline makers/ attention grabbers."
The legendary cricketer's statement though tries to end the debate by watering the fire, but it may cause a crack in their respective relations.
Even if we say Gavaskar's comment is being wrongly publicized, still this is not new. Anushka is also not guilty here. The Indian cricket fans started to bash her a long time ago when the duo started dating. Even there are YouTube clips of reporters asking Kohli 'on her effect on his performance'-ish type of questions and vice-versa. In the past, whenever Kohli failed to uplift his standard by this much level, people started to blame Anuskha citing bizarre reasons. Sunil Gavaskar has just become a scapegoat for a conventional comment.
This is not a good advertisement neither for the game nor for the fans.
