Nepotism has been a hot topic of debate amongst Indian fans ever since the sad demise of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Many netizens including prominent personalities have raised their voice against favouritism overshadowing talent. However, former Indian opener and active commentator Aakash Chopra has claimed that nepotism is irrelevant in cricket and to play the game at the highest level, an individual needs to prove his mettle. Citing the examples of Sunil Gavaskar’s son Rohan and Sachin Tendulkar’s son Arjun, Chopra explained that unlike other industries, one cannot go forward in cricket just by being related to a big personality. Gautam Gambhir Accuses Bishan Singh Bedi of Nepotism, Says, He Tried to Include His ‘Undeserving’ Son Angad in Delhi Team.

“If you see the bigger picture, Rohan Gavaskar was the son of Sunil Gavaskar, if one has to go by nepotism, Rohan should have played a lot of cricket but it did not happen this way. When he eventually ended up playing for India, he did so because he had a good run with Bengal in domestic cricket,” Chopra said in a video posted on his official YouTube channel.

Making his debut in 2004, Rohan could play only 11 ODIs where he scored 151 runs and took a solitary wicket. He also played two Indian Premier League (IPL) matches for Kolkata Knight Riders. However, he couldn’t leave a major impact there too.

Watch Video:

“Sunil Gavaskar did not make his son play from Mumbai, the same thing can be said about Sachin Tendulkar’s son, Arjun, he is not having anything served to him on a platter. At the highest level, there is no compromise, I do not think nepotism is that relevant in cricket as compared to the other industries,” Chopra added.

Arjun is yet to play international cricket and he has not even received an IPL contract yet.

Speaking of nepotism in cricket, almost a year back, cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir accused former Indian captain Bishen Singh Bedi for pushing his son Angad in Delhi’s age-group teams. The two time World Cup winner even said that Bedi, along with Chetan Chauhan, stopped pacer Navdeep Saini from getting in Delhi’s Ranji team.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 27, 2020 05:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).