Amid widespread outrage over Congress leader Shama Mohamed’s ‘fat’ remark on India captain Rohit Sharma, batting great Sunil Gavaskar has shared his views on the body shaming controversy. In a post on X, Shama Mohamed said that Rohit needs to lose weight as he is “fat for a sportsman”. “Rohit Sharma is fat for a sportsman! Need to lose weight! And of course the most unimpressive Captain India has ever had!”
wrote Shama in a post that has now been deleted by her amid public outrage.
It is Gavaskar who believes it is all in the head; how the players appear does not matter. He offered: if the selection criteria is already fitness, then models should be picked for the team.
“If you want only slim guys, then you should go to a modelling competition and pick all the models. It’s not about that,” said Gavaskar to India Today.
“It’s about how well you can play cricket. We talked about Sarfaraz Khan-he was vilified for a long time because he was on heavy sides. But if he scores 150 for India in a Test match and goes on to score two or three fifty-plus scores, then what’s the problem? I don’t think size matters. It’s your mental strength-whether you can last the distance. Bat well, bat long and score runs,” he added.
In another post, Shama compared Rohit to the other India captains and termed him “medicore” captain.
“The least able captain and player who has had the luck of becoming the captain of India-such is his stature in comparison to the rest,” she had said.
Shama’s remarks attracted harsh rebuke on Monday from the ruling BJP since India’s crucial Champions Trophy semi-final against Australia is set for Tuesday. Even her party, Congress, distanced itself from Shama.
“The Indian National Congress treasures the contribution of sports personalities and disapproves of utterances that disparage their legacy,” said Pawan Khera, head, Media and Publicity Department of Congress party.