Don’t read headlines, hear what I said, Gavaskar reacts after facing backlash for remark on Virat Kohli

New Delhi: Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar on Friday said he has not given any ‘sexist comment’ on Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s wife Anushka Sharma and added that people should carefully listen what he said on Kohli rather than reading the headlines.

Gavaskar’s remarks came after actor Anushka called the commentator’s message as ‘distasteful’.

“I did not give any sexist comment. I just said that Virat Kohli didn’t get time to practice during the lockdown. We all saw how Virat Kohli was practicing on his terrace and Anushka was bowling to him. I just said Virat only got a chance to practice on Anushka’s bowling,” Gavaskar said on air during the Delhi Capitals-Chennai Super Kings game being broadcast on Star Sports Hindi.

“I request everybody to watch and hear it again then say whatever you want to. Don’t read the headlines, hear and watch on your own. I did not say anything sexist, nor I was trying to blame anyone, when I was talking about training during the lockdown, it was not when Kohli was dismissed. He was dismissed 3-4 balls later,” he added.

Kohli was dismissed for just a run on Thursday and Gavaskar made a remark on how the India and RCB skipper hardly had any training time against quality bowling during the coronavirus-induced break. He also used Kohli’s wife, Anushka’s name while making the remark.

Earlier in the day, reacting to being dragged into the episode, the actor took to Instagram and wrote: “That, 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’m sure over the years you have respected the private lives of every cricketer while commenting on the game. Don’t you think you should have equal amount of respect for me and us?”

“I’m sure you can have many other words and sentences in your mind to use to comment on my husband’s performance from last night or are your words only relevant if you use my name in the process? It is 2020 and things still don’t change for me. When will I stop getting dragged into cricket and stop being used to pass weeping statements? Respected Mr Gavaskar, you are a legend whose name stands tall in this gentleman’s game. Just wanted to tell you what I felt when I heard you say this,” she added.

Having started the season with a win, RCB didn’t have a good outing against KXIP on Thursday as they lost by 97 runs at the Dubai Cricket Stadium. Kohli made no bones about the fact that it was a bad day in the office not just for the team, but also for him individually.

While the RCB skipper managed to score just a run with the bat, he missed two catches of KXIP skipper KL Rahul and that did make a difference as Rahul hit a brilliant century to lead his team from the front. In fact, Rahul was in the 80s when he was dropped and went on to hit an unbeaten 132 off 69 balls.