Sunil Gavaskar is not a bigot. Of that I am fairly certain, even granting that people can change and that as you grow older you tend to drift towards the more conservative end of the political spectrum.
Without quite being buddy-buddy, we have known each other for four decades now. We have had our good days — on tours especially, where we were both simply ‘writers’, and he was encouraging of youngsters. And bad days, when he has reacted to what I said. Recently, he was so upset about something in this column that he sent a letter which was carried in full.
But through all of this, the conviction that he is one of the all-time greats of the game has never faltered. He is an intelligent man, often compared by teammates to a chess grandmaster for his ability to think a dozen steps ahead of a move.
Twisted view
Which is why his recent pronouncement on a Pakistani player being selected to play in The Hundred in England is so twisted.
He has accused Sunrisers Hyderabad, owners of Sunrisers Leeds in England of contributing to the Indian casualties by funding weapons for Pakistan through the money Abrar Ahmed, a leg-spin bowler, will pay in tax. This is a bit like arguing that anybody who takes Shubman Gill’s wicket on the first day of a Test match is ruining cricket’s economy because fans might stay away on the second day.
Sunrisers Hyderabad signed up Abrar for $254,000 in the London auction.
“Although belated, the realisation that the fees that they pay to a Pakistani player, who then pays income tax to his government, which buys arms and weapons, indirectly contributes to the deaths of Indian soldiers and civilians, is making Indian entities refrain from even considering having Pakistani artistes and sportspersons,” Gavaskar wrote.
Gavaskar, who turns 77 this year, seems to be plugging into the spirit of the times. This is who we are in the new world order where India’s version of Donald Trump’s MAGA are the arbiters of what is good, what is nationalism and how patriotism is a zero sum game where loving your country means hating others. And you have to feed the beast if you are a public figure.
I hold no candle for Pakistan (although after this appears, trolls will suggest I move there). They are a struggling economy which exports terror. Politicians need India as the ‘other’ to spew venom at for their own ends. It takes the focus away from their own misdeeds and the sufferings of their people. It is a time-tested strategy used by other countries too. Yet to conclude that a cricketer’s salary contributes to terrorism is convoluted.
Following the Mumbai attacks in 2008, Pakistani players have been kept out of the IPL. There was no official order from the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Such things are done informally, with a nudge and a wink, the BCCI’s most effective weapons. Franchises understand what is good for them, and are unwilling to invite problems by selecting Pakistani players in India. The trouble — nudge,nudge, wink, wink — is not worth it.
But there is something disturbing about a national figure, a hero to millions mouthing the kind of stuff that is the preserve of social media trolls. If we see parts of ourselves reflected in our heroes, then this is not a wholesome reflection.
Less tolerant
Or perhaps, unknowingly, gradually, we as a people are becoming less tolerant, more likely to weaponise anything from a handshake to a selection abroad to buttress our self-image. The genuinely powerful do not need to constantly reference their power. Cricket is often called upon to clean the mess politicians make, or indeed endorse their views.
Gavaskar is entitled to his opinion, of course. Using his logic, you can make a case for keeping Indian players out of the IPL too, because the taxes they pay should go into building proper roads. But our roads are so full of potholes that you can say the IPL is leading to corruption (Note to trolls: This is a joke).
Once it was an article of faith that the best way to grab attention was to write against the prevailing ideas. Today the opposite seems true. You bow to the zeitgeist, and endorse the prevailing ‘wisdom’.
Published – March 25, 2026 12:41 am IST
