Former India cricketer and Kolkata Knight Riders’ assistant coach Abhishek Nayar shared his perspectives on the subject of sex in cricket. Nayar was one of the main reasons behind KKR’s win in the IPL 2024. The Shreyas Iyer-led side defeated SunRisers Hyderabad in the final of the 2024 IPL to end their decade long drought and lift the title trophy for the third time. Apart from KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir, one name that played a key role in orchestrating their success was Nayar.
Nayar recently appeared in a podcast by YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia, where the latter asked him a question, generally considered as a taboo. Ranveer asked Nayar, "Final topic, sex in cricket? Is it a factor in the lives of players?" The former cricketer was seemingly taken aback by the spontaneity of the question and took some time to comprehend the question. After taking some time, he replied, "Are you asking this in a positive way or negative way? You have asked a very open-ended question. It will happen. Which human being will survive without it.”
The 40-year-old added, "It's normal for anyone to do it. It's different for everybody. There is this constant fight and conundrum in every cricketer's mind. Some people will like it, some will abstain. Some cricketers do believe that their power and focus tend to improve if they don't have sex, while others follow that and end up concluding that nothing has changed for them."
Nayar went on to say that individuals often resort to sexual activity as a means of alleviating stress among the pervasive pressures they face. He added, “So, this is a very individual thing. There's no thumb rule. The fact is, at different phases in life, different things work. No one's desperate, but sometimes there's so much pressure that you want to chill.”