Shortage of water is serious but linking it to IPL will trivialise it: Rahul Dravid

The game of cricket in India has been at the center of controversies for the last few years since the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing saga emerged the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as well as the league. As the 9th edition of the IPL is underway a petition filed in the Bombay High Court has seen the court issue and order to move out all the matches to be played in the month of May in the drought-hit state of Maharashtra. Following this decision two former Indian skippers Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid who is also the mentor of the Delhi Daredevils team said that cricket has become an easy target for creating controversies

While talking to NDTV Rahul said, “It’s a serious issue and the fact that so many people are dying because of shortage of water is serious but linking it to IPL will trivialise it. How can a drought be as important as cricket? If not having IPL will solve the problem, then we should stop playing IPL,”

The little master seemed to agree to Dravid and said, “What do you think has been happening for the last 9-10 years? It’s always something or the other cropping up before or during the IPL. Whether it’s a soft target or not, yes it is a soft target,”

He (Sunil Gavaskar) added that, the serious drought which has forced farmers from the state to commit suicide is a real issue but at the same time it shouldn’t be correlated to cricket. “Farmers’ life has to be absolute priority. You cannot trivialise people who put bread on our table. That’s an absolute priority. Is water being saved by not having IPL matches? If yes, how can it be done? The BCCI did guarantee that they will not use potable water. Franchises and BCCI, I believe, also offered to make donation. Those two were significant and good gestures,” he said.

Gavaskar also felt that it is just cricket that has been singled out and targeted. “Why only cricket has been singled out? What about gardening, swimming? You can go on and on. Only cricket has been singled out,” he said.

He further pointed out that, “Not just in this, even when there is something political, cricket is singled out. When it comes to having ties with some country or not, it’s cricket that is talked about,”

Gavaskar said water conservation should be done over a period of time, and that the central government needs to come in to solve the crisis. “This is something that has to be done over a period of time. Last two three years, there has been less and less rain. The national government has to think how to solve this problem. Everywhere there is this problem and with global warming, this will only increase,”

“A policy has to be evolved so that we know that in case there is less rain, what is to be done. It can’t be done by not just playing some matches in the IPL,” he said.

Here is the video interview by the news channel:

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