The other point of view: Was there an overreaction to Sunil Gavaskar's statement on Kohli-Anushka?

When we first learned about Photorespiration in the 2nd grade, we were taught that the natural phenomenon is nothing but a ‘necessary evil’. That’s social media these days and what platform better than Twitter to display the views of the common. While Twitter is informative it can be dangerous because opinions these days are not just based on facts but it painfully depends on what’s viral.

Unfortunately, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar has fallen prey to the dangerous trend of misquotation and hypocrisy after he made a cheeky comment on Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli. The comment included a mention of Kohli’s wife and famous Bollywood star Anushka Sharma.

Also Read: Sunil Gavaskar clarifies comment on Virushka: I was not being sexist, my words have been twisted

After a couple of early dismissals skipper Virat Kohli, who scored only 14 against Hyderabad in the IPL 2020 season opener, came down to bat at No.4 and didn’t seem to be at his best yet again. A part of the Hindi commentary panel Sunil Gavaskar, on air, made a cheeky comment on Kohli given his rusty form.

“Ab jo lockdown tha toh unhone sirf Anushka ke saath bowling ki practice ki hai, usse toh kuch bhi nahi banna”: Gavaskar was heard on air during the game while the cameras were on Kohli.

Translation: During the lockdown, Virat could only practice his batting to Anushka Sharma’s bowling, that couldn’t have helped much.

Here's the actual video:

It's stupid to troll legend like Sunil Gavaskar, don't be fool, he refereed Anuskha & Kohli video playing Cricket, fake Feminists sit down & chill...listen this video and judge wisely.. don't play double meaning #SunilGavaskar #AnushkaSharma #Kohli pic.twitter.com/jHBLEMfHeV pic.twitter.com/dyuXF8FRQz — Aditya raj (@that_iz_aditya) September 25, 2020

What we understand is, this was with regard to the video of Anushka Sharma actually playing cricket with her husband that went viral a few months ago. However, that wasn’t the case with most of the Twitterati. The first Tweets that emerged had a total misquote of Gavaskar’s comments.

“Inhone lockdown me to bas Anushka ki gendon ki practice ki hai'': was what Twitter made out of it and blamed the 71-year-old for a non-existent innuendo.

The fake comment that enraged a lot of fans was removed by the account that made the tweet after the truth was revealed.

Naturally, the lashing out at Gavaskar was inevitable given that the policing squad on social media does not care about facts but loves giving its opinions. What’s worse is the fact that many big agencies went ahead with the misquote and shamed the former cricketer for an innuendo he never must have imagined in his life.

Also Read: Sunil Gavaskar responds to Anushka Sharma’s Instagram post: Where am I blaming her for Virat Kohli’s failures?

To blow things out of proportion, Anushka Sharma posted a story on her Instagram bashing Gavaskar for dragging her into her husband’s performances. Sure, fans have wronged Anushka in the past by blaming her for Kohli’s poor performance since before the couple even tied the knot. But it’s unfortunate that the Anushka Sharma who fought against those people has fallen in the trap of the same trolls this time and lashed out at a senior cricketing legend.

“Mr. Gavaskar your message is distasteful is a fact but I would love for you to explain why you thought of making such a sweeping statement on a wife accusing her for her husband’s game? I am sure over the years you have respected the private lives of every cricketer while commentating on the game”: a part of her Instagram story read.

Just to clarify here, we are not defending Sunil Gavaskar for his comment since it was uncalled for on his part to even mention a player’s wife during a cricket game. However, Anushka’s reaction was surely out of proportion since she seemed to be clearly misguided by the misquote overflow on Twitter. The stand she has taken has come off too strong against a comment that implied to be nothing but a valid video of the celebrity couple, that always displays themselves as a brand tied together, playing cricket on their terrace. In fact, Gavaskar’s commentary part on air followed up the legend’s comment by explaining that even when the couple were playing cricket on their terrace, during the lockdown, they couldn’t get any privacy. Hence, it’s clear the talk was about Kohli-Anushka playing cricket and nothing else.

Here’s the video of the couple playing cricket in May:

Such is the brutality of the power of social media that spares no one. People asking the BCCI to sack Sunil Gavaskar surely don’t understand the man’s contribution to the sport. Hopefully, we get to see what Gavaskar has to say to this and then the truth must come out.