Sports, politics have never been separate: Sunil Gavaskar on handshake controversy

3 months ago

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, while talking to consulting editor of the India Today group, downplayed the handshake controversy after India's Asia Cup win over Pakistan.

Transcript

00:00But I want to first turn to Sunil Gavaskar, who we spoke to earlier.

00:04And I began by asking Mr. Gavaskar, your first thoughts on the Indian team refusing to shake

00:11hands with the Pakistan team. Was that the right thing to do?

00:17Well, I didn't, I actually didn't see it, but, you know, it's entirely up to an individual,

00:22individual what they want to do. Because, you know, I think you have situations on the field

00:28where people are abusing you, saying things to you. And then at the end of the day,

00:33if you expect that somebody who's been calling your name, somebody who's been saying things to you,

00:38if you expect that, you know, you're going to go and, you know, impress or shake hands with that

00:42person, that's asking for too much. So I don't know what had happened on the field, whether there

00:51was any exchange of words or anything of the sort. But if a person, I'm not even talking about a team,

00:57if an individual decides not to shake hands, he or she is perfectly within his and her rights

01:05to do so.

01:07But what will you tell Mr. Gavaskar, those who will say, please keep sports and politics separate,

01:13that you can't bring your political beliefs and messages onto a cricket field?

01:19Sports and politics have never been a sight. Let's, I mean, it's been, I mean, have a look at,

01:27have a look at, you know, things over the years, sports and politics has always been around. So

01:34I wouldn't, I wouldn't even say anything to somebody who says that. Wouldn't even want to get into any

01:40discussion with somebody like that.

01:44But the concern now is that Pakistan is, has officially written to the Asian Cricket Council

01:50saying they will boycott the tournament if Pycroft remains match referee. Do you see the next India

01:56Pakistan game going ahead as planned? Or do you think the match and indeed the tournament is under

02:01some kind of threat?

02:05Well, we'll have to just wait and see. There's still a few days left, I think five, six days

02:09to go. And whether, whether this threat of them not playing because they don't want Andy Pycroft as the,

02:19the match referee, we'll just have to wait and see what happens, what the ICC does, whether the ICC takes,

02:25because the ICC appoints the, the, the match referee, the ICC tells the ACC who the umpires are and who the,

02:33who the match referee is going to be. So I think it's going to be not just an ACC decision.

02:39I think it will probably be an ICC call as well.

02:44Okay. That was Sunil Gavaska saying it's up to individuals to decide whether they want to go ahead

02:48with a handshake or not.

Sports, politics have never been separate: Sunil Gavaskar on handshake controversy

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