Sunil Gavaskar Slams Ashok Malhotra For His 'Pay Cuts' Statement

Legendary Indian batsman, Sunil Gavaskar has come down heavily on Indian Cricketers Association (ICA) Chief, Ashok Malhotra after the latter said that Indian cricketers should buckle themselves up for pay cuts due to the loss suffered amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Notably, the COVID-19 virus has brought the world to a standstill. Major sporting events have also come under its radar and they have either been postponed or suspended due to its outbreak. Even the Tokyo Olympics that was scheduled to take place this year has been postponed until next year in the wake of the pandemic.

Recently, some giant football clubs of Europe including, Juventus and FC Barcelona announced that their players have decided to accept pay cuts keeping in view the suspended state of the sport. After this, ICA supremo, Ashok Malhotra said that the Indian cricketers must draw inspiration from them and be ready to accept pay cuts in the case of games being cancelled or postponed.

However, veteran Indian batsman, Sunil Gavaskar isn’t very pleased with Malhotra’s comments and has questioned his authority to have come up with such an audacious statement.

Sunil Gavaskar Slams Ashok Malhotra Over Pay Cut Statement

“Like with any sport, if you don’t play you don’t get paid and that’s what will happen. What was amusing though was to read that the president of the Indian Cricketers’ Association has said there should be pay cuts for the India internationals and the first-class players too,” Gavaskar wrote.

“One can understand him trying to curry favour with the BCCI but with whose authority is he talking about the cuts is the question. The current India internationals and the first-class players are not members of the players’ body so he can’t be speaking on their behalf. It’s easy to talk about pay cuts if it doesn’t hurt your own pocket,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for the Mid-Day.

Here Is What Ashok Malhotra Had Said Earlier

Former India batsman and currently the president of the Indian Cricketers Association (ICA) Ashok Malhotra feels that in the present grim situation, where there is huge uncertainty around the cash-rich IPL, India’s cricketers, some of them, the richest in the sport, could soon face a pay cut.

“The BCCI is the parent body of the cricketers. It’s a company. If a company is making losses, then it all filters down. In Europe, almost all the footballers normally paid the highest among all, are taking a huge pay cut, which has been announced by their associations. This was an unexpected scenario,” said Ashok Malhotra.

“These are very tough times. So, everyone will have to try and contribute from their pocket. I know it’s not fair to reduce the salaries of the players, but if the parent body is not earning as much as it was doing before, the cricketers will definitely have to expect a pay cut,” Ashok Malhotra added.

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