Sunil Gavaskar blasts BCCI, Rohit Sharma & Co. for wearing black armbands after a delay in Rajkot Test

Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar schooled the BCCI and Team India for taking three days to pay tribute to the late Indian skipper Dattajirao Gaekwad. India are currently playing the third Test against England in Rajkot.

The Indian cricketers were seen wearing back armbands on day 3 as they finally paid a late tribute to Dattajirao Gaekwad, a former India captain, who, on February 13 died in his hometown Baroda at the age of 95. He was the oldest living Indian Test cricketer since the death of Deepak Shodhan in 2016.

Gavaskar was livid with the fact that it took the Indian team management three days to realise this. The third Test started on February 15 but the Indian players were seen wearing the black armbands on day 3. It was only on Saturday that the BCCI announced that Rohit Sharma and Co. will take the field wearing black armbands after playing without them for the first two days.

“Team India will be wearing black armbands in memory of Dattajirao Gaekwad, former India captain and India’s oldest Test cricketer who passed away recently,” BCCI said in a release before the start of play on the third day of the Test match.

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Better Late Than Never: Sunil Gavaskar Schools BCCI, Team India

Meanwhile, Gavaskar took the opportunity to take a dig at the Indian think tank and the BCCI as well. He raised his voice saying that he was unhappy that the players did not wear the armbands from the first day itself.

 “Better late than never… they should’ve done it on Day 1 but better late than never,” Gavaskar said on commentary as the players took the field. “He was captain of the Indian team in a five-match series. He captained four out of the five matches and the other one was captained by Pankaj Roy,” Gavaskar added.

The BCCI did put out a condolence message hours after Gaekwad’s death on Tuesday.

“The BCCI expresses its profound grief at the passing away of Dattajirao Gaekwad, former India captain and India’s oldest Test cricketer. He played in 11 Tests and led the team during India’s Tour of England in 1959. Under his captaincy, Baroda also won the Ranji Trophy in the 1957-58 season, beating Services in the final. The Board expresses its heartfelt condolences to Gaekwad’s family, friends, and admirers,” it stated.

Dattajirao Gaekwad played 11 Test matches for India leading India’s Tour of England in 1959. Under his captaincy, Baroda also won the Ranji Trophy in the 1957-58 season, beating Services in the final.

In the Ranji Trophy, Gaekwad represented Baroda from 1947 to 1961. He scored 3139 runs at an average of 47.56, including 14 hundreds. His highest was a 249 not out against Maharashtra in the 1959-60 season.

Meanwhile, India made a strong comeback in the third Test by taking five wickets inside the first two sessions on day 3. England resumed the day on 207/2 and have lost their next five wickets in space of just over 100 runs. Ben Duckett (153) and Ben Stokes (41) were the two big wickets to fall.

Meanwhile, Ravichandran Ashwin has opted out for the remaining three days of the Rajkot Test due to family emergency. Team India will play with 10 men for the remaining three days.

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