BCCI Denied Gavaskar 1975-76 Paternity Leave? Former India Captain Clears Air

India vs Australia: Recently there were reports that Gavaskar was denied permission for paternity leave at the time of the birth of his first child. Now the former cricketer himself has broken his silence on the issue.

Photo: AFP

Indian captain Virat Kohli is currently on the tour of Australia. Kohli will play only one Test match apart from the three-match ODI and T20 series in Australia. The Indian captain will not play the remaining three matches of the four-Test series as he will leave the tour mid-way and return to India after the first Test due to paternity leave. Virat and his lady love Anushka are soon going to become parents for the first time in January.

Ind vs Aus: Virat Kohli opens up on his decision to take paternity leave

Recently in an interview Kohli made it very clear that he wants to be with his wife Anushka for the birth of their first child. Meanwhile, Kohli's paternity leave has been continuously discussed over the past few weeks. His decision to take paternity leave has been praised by many former cricketers.

While Kohli is getting praised for his decision to apply for the paternity leave, on the other hand, former Indian cricketer legend Sunil Gavaskar is also getting a lot of "mentions" these days.

Did BCCI reject Sunil Gavaskar's paternity leave application?

In fact, recently there were reports that Gavaskar was denied permission by BCCI for paternity leave at the time of the birth of his first child. Now the former cricketer himself has broken his silence on the issue. Gavaskar says that he never asked the board for paternity leave.

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Sunil Gavaskar saw his son for the first time when he turned 3-months old!

At the time Sunil Gavaskar's son Rohan was born, he was on a tour of New Zealand and the West Indies. Gavaskar said that he knew that he would remain on that tour during the birth of his first child.

"While this is correct, the circumstances of that request were not quite made clear and so, here is an attempt to put the record straight. Firstly, I did not ask permission to return to be by my wife's side for the birth [of the baby]. When I left with the Indian team for the twin tour of New Zealand and the West Indies, I was aware that the baby would come while I was away. I was committed to playing for India and my wife backed me to the hilt," Gavaskar wrote in a column in the Mid-Day newspaper. "The doctors advised a four-week break from the game for recovery. The next Test match was in the West Indies in about three weeks and since I wasn't going to be able to play in the interim, I asked our manager, the legendary Polly Umrigar, if I could go back at my own expense for a few days and rejoin the team in the West Indies well ahead of the first Test. So, there was no question of me missing a Test match other than for injury. In fact, I played the first Test despite the doctor having advised another week's rest," Gavaskar wrote.