Cricket and Nepotism

Nepotism or favouritism is something when a person in power or has a good influence uses it to favour their close ones.

Nepotism exists in all fields. Its outcome could be either negative (Tiger shroff or Arjun Kapoor?) or positive (Alia Bhat or Ranbir Kapoor?) in Bollywood.

Nepotism has made its mark in cricket as well.

The following players are a product of nepotism.

1- Rohan Gavaskar

“Rohan Gavaskar commentating with his father Sunil Gavaskar”

Son of the legendary Indian opening Batsman Rohan Gavaskar, He made his ODI debut for the Indian cricket team at 2004, he also played his last match for the Indian cricket team in the same year.

He made 11 appearances during his short career scoring a measly 151 runs at an average of18.88. His performances weren’t up to the mark and did not ensure his stay at the team. His father’s name helped him get a spot at the team but could not ensure his stay.

He later went on to become a commentator.

2 -Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi

“Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi during his early years”

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi was the son of Ifthikar Ali Khan, The captain of the Indian cricket team of the 1946 England tour.

Ifthikar had ably passed on his cricketing ability to his son.

Mansoor captained India at the age of 21 and ended his career scoring 2793 runs, with his highest score being 203*.

He is also the husband of the legendary Bollywood actress Sharmila Tagore and the father of Saif Ali Khan.

He met his end in 2011.

3 - Mohinder Amarnath

“ Lala Amarnath (L), Mohinder Amarnath (R) ”

Mohinder Amarnath was part of the legendary Indian cricket team that won the 1983 World Cup in England. He is the son of the legendary Lala Amarnath, who was the first captain of the Indian team in the post-independence era. He was an allrounder who played 69 Tests and 85 ODIs for the country with healthy statistics.

4 - Ashok Mankad

Son of arguably the greatest allrounder of all time Vinoo Mankad, Ashok Mankad represented India in 22 matches scoring 99, though domestically he had a great career scoring 12980 runs in 218 matches. The pressure of being the son of Vinoo Mankad was a bit too much I guess.

5 - Sanjay Manjrekar

The ex Mumbai team captain and Indian batsman was the son of the former Indian cricket player Vijay Manjrekar.

Sanjay was a mainstay at the middle order scoring 2043 runs in 61 innings at a healthy average of 38.67.

He was a legendary first-class player scoring 10252 runs at an astounding average of  55.11, he also captained the Mumbai team to the trophy.

He later went on to become a cricket pundit.

  6 - Stuart Binny

“Stuart Binny (L), Roger Binny (R)”

Son of the former Indian allrounder Roger Binny, Stuart Binny made himself a name as an allrounder. He still holds the record for the best bowling figures by an Indian in an ODI.

 6 wickets taken and only 4 runs given against Bangladesh in 2016. But his performances were inconsistent and soon faded away from the spotlight with the arrival of Hardik Pandya.

His performances were regularly irregular and his inconsistency cost him a place at whichever teams he represented.

At 34 years a comeback to Indian side seems unlikely to add to that he went unsold during this year IPL auction

7 - Jay Shah

“BCCI president Sourav Ganguly with the secretary Jay Shah"

Being the son of India’s home minister has its perks, Jay shah son of Amit Shah has risen the ranks and is now the secretary of the BCCI.

When there was a change in the administration of BCCI at 2019  everyone was happy with the Bengal tiger ‘Sourav Ganguly’ being the president but eyebrows were raised while the secretary was Jay Shah.

Though he has the experience of administering the Gujurat cricket board the allegations of nepotism has been raised.

Recently ex Indian chief selector Dileep Vengsarkar also accused that the infamous ex BCCI treasurer of nepotism. N Srinivasan was unhappy with Vengsarkar as he picked Virat Kohli over a fellow Tamilian S. Badrinath to the side.

   “ N Srinivasan (top left), Virat Kohli (Right), Dilip Vengsarkar (bottom left) ”

He was very much annoyed at this and a few weeks after this incident Vengsarkar was shown the door.

There are few more example of nepotism such as Anirudha S son of the former Indian opener        

K. Srikanth, to an extent maybe even Yuvraj Singh son of Yograj Singh.

Some of the above mentioned cricketers went on to be successful products of nepotism while others failed miserably and could not handle the pressure.

-  G R AASHUTHOSH