Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has threatened legal action after a website published an article under his name during the first Test between India and Australia at Optus Stadium, Perth. A website named Cricket Ception published a column under Gavaskar’s name on Friday evening, with the headline, “A New Era in Leadership: Bumrah’s Captaincy and Kohli’s Leadership Revive Team India.”
The fake article, which was published on Friday evening, is related to Gavaskar praising both Jasprit Bumrah and Virat Kohli. However, the Indian legend has issued a clarification, saying he has written no such column.
The 1983 World Cup winner shared a video on Instagram on Saturday morning, calling out the “fake” article. Sharing the video, Sunil Gavaskar wrote, “Never believe everything you see on the Internet #alwaysverify.”
In the video, the former India batter said, “Hi, this is Sunil Gavaskar and I want to say that there is a website cricket ception which has printed an article under my name. I have to say that that is completely fake, I have not contributed that at all and I want to tell that website to take it down immediately.”
“Issue an apology. If you don’t do that immediately, I will give the matter to my legal team. So don’t believe a word of what you’ve read, this is a completely fake article and attributed to me,” he added.
Bumrah, Rana wreak havoc in Perth Test
Jasprit Bumrah and Harshit Rana took eight wickets among themselves as India bundled out Australia for just 104 in the first innings of the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test at Optus Stadium, Perth.
Bumrah took five while Rana on his debut scalped three wickets to help the visitors gain a lead of 46.
Earlier, India stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah had won the toss and opted to bat first. Josh Hazlewood returned with four wickets to restrict India to just 150.
Prior to the start of the series, Gavaskar had said that Bumrah would captain India for the entire Border-Gavaskar Trophy, if Rohit Sharma misses the first Test. Rohit Sharma is not available for the first as he along with his wife Ritika Sajdeh, recently welcomed their second child, a baby boy.
“It is important for the captain to play the first Test match. It’s different if he is injured, but if he is not available, then the deputy leader will be under a lot of pressure. I have been reading that Rohit Sharma might not play the first two Tests of the Australia series. I feel that, in that case the selection committee should appoint Jasprit Bumrah the captain of the side for the entire Australia tour, and tell Rohit Sharma that you will participate as a player in this series. For the first Test match, Rohit Sharma has to be there,” Gavaskar said while speaking to Sports Tak.
