Sunil Gavaskar came out in the sea of appreciation that Rohit Sharma garnered in the wake of Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed’s comment.
India legend Sunil Gavaskar has asserted that cricket is a matter of mental toughness and the shape of a player’s body has little to do with it amid controversy over Congresswoman Shama Mohamed’s description of Rohit Sharma as “fat”. Gavaskar explained that batting well and long and piling on runs is what counts and if you are doing that, then all the other factors don’t count.
“Everybody keeps saying this, if you want only slim boys, go to a modelling contest and take all the models. It is not about that,” said Gavaskar on India Today. It’s a matter of how good you are at playing cricket. We spoke of Sarfaraz Khan—he was used to being demonized for ages because he was overweight. But if he makes 150 for India in a Test and then another two or three fifty-plus scores, what’s the problem?”
“I don’t believe size comes into it. It’s your mental endurance—whether you can survive the distance—that matters most. Bat well, bat long, and score runs,” replied the former Indian captain. Shama Mohamed made the remarks in a tweet on X which she has now deleted. “Rohit Sharma is fat for a sportsman! Need to lose weight! And of course, the most unimpressive Captain India has ever had!” she wrote.
She again compared Sharma with past captains of the Indian cricket team and branded him as “mediocre” player and captain in another post. “What is world-class about him as compared to the previous captains? He is an average captain along with an average player who became the captain of India by sheer luck,” she said.
