Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar believes it is crucial for the senior players to guide youngsters after Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul’s controversy. Both the players had to face the backlash of the fans after their crasser comments on Koffee with Karan. Consequently, it is important for senior players to guide the young players on the right path.
Both the players were called back from Australia tour when the show was aired. Thus, both of them were suspended from the India National Cricket Team. Pandya was banned for four One Day Internationals and he had joined the team for the New Zealand ODI after his ban was lifted. On the other hand, KL Rahul was drafted into the India A side before he played the limited overs series against Australia.
Pivotal to keep one’s feet on the ground.
Meanwhile, Sunil Gavaskar said it is not easy to handle money as well as fame at the same time. In fact, it is imperative to keep one’s feet to the ground.
“I have to mention that it (stardom) is quite a tough thing to handle at the beginning of your career… When you have to constantly improve your game and at the same time match up the expectation of the people as a celebrity or icon,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying by IANS on Saturday.
He further added, “The attention that you get outside, and then focusing on the game so that you can maintain the attention. That is why it is important that senior players should mentor and guide these youngsters who have already gone through that phase.”
On the other hand, Sunil Gavaskar believes the rise of T20 cricket and 50-overs format has helped in getting more results in Test cricket. The batsmen are scoring more runs and thus the matches are result oriented.
“Even youngsters know that a cricketer will be remembered in the history based on his performance in Test Cricket. That is classic, that is ultimate. But because the new generation is playing a lot of T20 and 50 over (ODI) format we are scoring more runs, and Test matches have become more result oriented than draws, that used to happen earlier. That also made a test match more exciting to watch,” he said.
Meanwhile, KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya had made immature comments on the talk show. However, they must have taken their lessons after facing public humiliation. In fact, Hardik Pandya had stated that he had got carried away with the theme of the show.