Picture Credit: Twitter
Legendary India batter Sunil Gavaskar has reportedly returned a government plot that was allotted to him in Mumbai 33 years ago to set up a cricket academy.
However, Gavaskar could not set up the cricketing infrastructure and has returned the land over 3 decades later. The same was confirmed by an official from a Maharashtra Housing and Area Development (MHADA) on Wednesday as quoted in a PTI report.
It is pertinent to note that State Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad had expressed his displeasure last year over the fact that Gavaskar had failed to utilise the plot in suburban Bandra for the proposed cricket facility.
The report carried by the leading news agency also claims that the former India captain has written a letter to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray formally announcing his inability to use the land allotted to him and his decision to return the same.
Earlier, it had been reported, that Gavaskar had visited the Chief Minister along with fellow Mumbai legend and another iconic batter Sachin Tendulkar with a plan to develop the cricket academy. However, the plan could not materalise.
Gavaskar's gesture of returning the land came after it was requested to do the same by MHADA which comes under Awhad’s ministry.
Currently, Gavaskar is busy with his stint as a commentator for IPL 2022.
Expressing his views on Chennai Super Kings and their chances of making it to the Playoffs from here, Gavaskar said that while Chennai may have a lot of catching up to do, they are a team that knows how to make comebacks.
"They (CSK) have a lot of catching up to do but they are a team that knows how to make a comeback. But they need to turn it around quickly," Gavaskar said.
“We saw what happened with KKR last year. When the tournament was being held in India, KKR were nowhere in the picture but in the UAE they won just about everything and went into the finals. So things can turn around in a jiffy in this tournament,” he added.