‘Easy to talk about pay cuts if it doesn’t hurt your own pocket’ – Sunil Gavaskar slams ICA President Ashok Malhotra for contemplating salary reduction

Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian cricketer, lashed out at Ashok Malhotra, the India Cricketers’ Association, for the comments he made on pay cuts of the players. The coronavirus pandemic has India in a massive way and Malhotra talked about the salary reduction due to the less amount of cricket being played. Currently, the players are staying indoors due to the 21-day lockdown.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) hasn’t put forth anything official thus far. However, last month, Malhotra reckoned that the players should brace for pay cuts if the home board isn’t earning a whole lot during the critical situation in the country.

With whose authority is he talking: Sunil Gavaskar

Malhotra’s words didn’t go down well with Gavaskar, who was left a tad bemused. Gavaskar didn’t mince any words in questioning Malhotra’s authority. He said that it’s simple to talk about pay reduction if it doesn’t affect one’s own pocket.

“Like with any sport, if you don’t play you don’t get paid and that’s what will happen. What was amusing though was to read that the president of the Indian Cricketers’ Association has said there should be pay cuts for the India internationals and the first-class players too,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day.

“One can understand him trying to curry favour with the BCCI but with whose authority is he talking about the cuts is the question. The current India internationals and the first-class players are not members of the players’ body so he can’t be speaking on their behalf. It’s easy to talk about pay cuts if it doesn’t hurt your own pocket,” he added.

In the wake of the massive COVID-19 outbreak, earlier, Arun Dhumal, the BCCI Treasurer, stated that a decision would be made “keeping the interest of all people in mind”. Thus far, there have been 3,300 coronavirus cases in India with the death tolls going up to 77.

The BCCI is set to incur huge losses if the Indian Premier League (IPL) gets cancelled. Previously, the start of the T20 tournament was postponed from March 29 to April 15, but with the situation getting worse, the fate of the IPL hangs by a thread.