Sunil Gavaskar Slams BCCI For Not Allowing T Natarajan To Meet His Daughter While Giving Virat Kohli Paternity Leave

Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar has lashed out at the different rules for different players in the Indian team. The batting legend 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.

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.

On his ODI debut, he picked up two wickets. He finished the T20I series with an impressive 6 wickets from three games. The Tamil Nadu star’s best performance came during the second T20I. In a game where both the teams scored over 190, T Natarajan conceded just 20 runs while taking two wickets in four overs.

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. The former cricketer-turned-commentator was baffled with Natarajan not getting the 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.

“(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.

“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.

Kohli left for home on Tuesday to attend the birth of his first child. The 32-year old will miss the remainder of the Test series. Meanwhile, the second match will be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground from December 26. Australia are leading the four-match series after winning the first Test in Adelaide.

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