Sunil Gavaskar Tears Apart BCCI Official For Insulting Syed Mushtaq Ali Tournament

Sunil Gavaskar, the Indian cricket legend, came down hard on BCCI after one of its official made insensitive remark on the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament.

The BCCI official, in his remark, said that he does not wants IPL to be like Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament. To which, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar raised his voice.

Sunil Gavaskar feels the board has to ensure quality of Mushtaq Ali tournament is not poor

The IPL 2020 has been deferred to April 15 from March 29. Around this period, the foreign players will also be able to join their respective franchises, after the new visa rule implied to withstand the coronavirus pandemic.

Amid this, Gavaskar said, it is for BCCI to ensure that the quality of the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament is not poor.

“Whether the IPL will be played at all depends on how quickly the spread of COVID-19 is controlled. Till April 15 overseas players won’t get a visa so it may take a bit longer for the tournament to take off. Foreign players bring a different flavour to the tournament and add to the excitement, so it’s important to have them,” Gavaskar wrote in a column for Sportstar.

“Having said that, for a so-called top BCCI official to comment that “the BCCI has to ensure the quality of the game is not poor. We did not want a Mushtaq Ali tournament,” is an incredibly insensitive statement if indeed it is true,” the former captain added.

It is insulting the great man: Sunil Gavaskar

Syed Mushtaq Ali, behind who the tournament has been named, played 226 matches in his first-class career. He went on to score 13213 runs and picked up 162 wickets.

He is one of the legends on the domestic circuit and Gavaskar believes to call the tournament poor is equivalent to insulting the great man.

“Firstly, it’s insulting to the great man after whom the tournament is named and secondly begs the question that if it’s such a “poor” tournament, then why have it at all? Also, can light be shed on why the quality of the tournament is poor? Surely it’s not simply because there are no international players in it, but also because there are no Indian internationals in it! That is a scheduling issue that the BCCI has to look at,” Gavaskar said.