Players try to be role models but can fail: Gavaskar
Legendary Sunil Gavaskar on Sunday said every player tries to become a role model while rising through the ranks but it is only human to fail to live up to the standards at times.
Without touching upon any specific incident that has happened in this year’s Indian Premier League, Gavaskar said social media tools carry information and messages to the general public much sooner than in the past.
“In the heat of the moment things happen, it is not that you teach youngsters anything, anybody can snap, (and) that is what happens,” Gavaskar told reporters at the launch of Midwicket Stories here.
“Everybody tries to be, once you start getting up there, to be the best role model that they can be. That is just how you’re brought up.”
“You want to be the best role model. (But) all of us are human so all of us, some time will fail that standard. Today it is in the public domain a lot sooner than it was in the past,” he said.
Gavaskar likened the tradition of players mixing up for drinks and talks after the end of a day’s play in a Test match during his playing days to cricketers interacting with each other after end of IPL matches.
“During the time that we played, there used to be a tradition. The team that was batting that day would carry a case of drinks to the other team’s changing room,” he said.
“And at the end of the day, giving about 20 odd minutes time for everybody to cool down. You (would) do a post-mortem on the day’s play as well. Out of the 16 players in your party, almost 10-12 would go into the other opposition room and sit next to each other.
“There would be talk about, obviously about a case, but there would also be talk about, (or) we would be asking them - if you are a tourist - which are the places to go to eat, which movies (to watch),” he added.
Gavaskar continued, “You see that in the IPL, at the end of the match both teams coming in and talking to each other. That, I think, this (is the) new tradition of people going and shaking hands and all that.”
