'He doesn’t have guts to call...' - Sunil Gavaskar under fire as he shields KL Rahul amidst criticism for dropped catch

Senior Indian wicketkeeper-batter and vice-captain KL Rahul is on the receiving end of criticism from Indian cricket fans for dropping a dolly catch against Bangladesh in the first ODI. KL Rahul’s dropped catch went on to cost the match for India as only one wicket was required to win the match when the hosts lost their nine wickets only on the score of 136 runs.

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However, the Bangalore batter impressed everyone with his stellar batting performance by scoring 73 runs individually. But his one mistake in fielding turned him into a villain for the Indian fans and their expectations.

Meanwhile, former legendary skipper and batting great, Sunil Gavaskar has come up with a defensive statement for KL Rahul. The 73-year-old went on to criticize the approach of the Indian batters, despite saying something about the poor fielding display by the team.

“You can’t really say that was it. Because yes, I think that was the last wicket. That should have made the match over. But the fact that India scored 186, I think you gonna look at that as well,” said Gavaskar to Sony Sports Network.

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This statement from the 1983 World Cup champion batter didn’t go down well with a section of Indian cricket fans who were critique of KL Rahul for his poor fielding. The fans took to Twitter for lashing out at Gavaskar for being defensive in favor of the Karnataka star.

Here’s how fans lashed out at Sunil Gavaskar:

These old greats have sold themselves out to @BCCI. They reached comfort level by getting good perks from Board...

— Manoj Shetty (@ManojShetty0705) December 5, 2022

Gavaskar lost my respect as he doesn’t have guts to call spade a spade. He can’t critics big players that are reason for India’s shameful repeated defeats

— akshay (@akshay__gupta) December 5, 2022

1983 World Cup India scored 183. If Kapil Dev would've dropped Viv Richards India would've lost.
2007 T20 World Cup, if Shreesanth would've dropped the catch India would've lost
Justification by the Legend is not correct for dropping not even a half chance.

— Rajesh (@Rajesh39658960) December 6, 2022

defended mr.gavaskar, why did rahul drop the catch , you answer for that , if he had catught then the game is over is it not, india batted with low total alright , why the hell he drop the easy lolly pop catch , he is not fit for the international cricket too

— H K IMTHIYAS AHMED (@HKIMTHIYASAHME2) December 6, 2022

Now, the men in blue will lock horns with the hosts Bangladesh in the second of the three-match ODI series at the Sher-E-Bangla stadium in Mirpur. Recently, the Bangla tigers are leading the three-match series with a margin of 1-0. Following the conclusion of this ODI series, both teams will lock horns in the two-match Test series starting from the 14^th of December.

Surprisingly, the sudden omission of Rishabh Pant from the ODI squad has also left fans in shock and with speculations on the inner turbulence in the Indian team management.