‘To See 7-0 Lead Being Squandered...’: Gavaskar Uses Rohit Sharma Quote to Sum up Lakshya’s Display

Lakshya Sen had the entire India believe that a medal in the Men's Singles category in Badminton was possible. The ace shuttler from India had the eventual Gold medalist Viktor Axelsen on his toes in the semi-final and had gotten into a winning position in the Bronze medal match as well. However, he could not deliver the kill switch on both occasions and hence had to return home empty-handed from the Paris Olympics.  

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Sunil Gavaskar Backs Prakash Padukone

While Lakshya Sen received polarising views on his performance, some congratulated him on having a sublime campaign at the Olympics, whereas many others criticised him for missing out on a medal after coming so close. India's batting legend, Sunil Gavaskar, is verbosely in the latter category. Gavaskar recently paid heed to Prakash Padukone stressing on the players to take responsibility for their loss and seconded him for speaking his mind. Gavaskar further heralded that making excuses won't take the country forward, introspecting on our performance and then undertaking measures to improve, will.

"He has always been reticent and publicity-shy, and he goes about his life with as much quiet as his famous dribble at the net. Therefore, his frank comments after the badminton disappointment came as a surprise to so many who have known him over the years to keep his counsel and not say much. It also stirred up a debate where the majority tried, as is the modern way, to take the side of a current would-be champion and not that of a past-proven world champion. Making excuses is where our country will win gold medals every single time, so the debate around his assessment was more about that than looking without tinted glasses at what he said," he wrote his column for Sportstar.

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Gavaskar Quotes Rohit Sharma To Define Lakshya Sen's Bottling at Paris Olympics

Gavaskar then paid attention to the performance of Lakshya Sen and used Rohit Sharma's famous words, that came into existence during the India vs England Test sires that took place earlier in the year, to define his slip up at the Paris Olympics.

"To then see a 20-17 and 7-0 lead being squandered off in the semifinal and then lose the bronze medal match after winning the first game comfortably must have been gut-wrenching indeed. He, Vimal Kumar, the BAI and the government’s TOPS had done everything possible, but when it came to the crunch, Lakshya was, in the famous words of the Indian cricket team captain, 'garden mein ghoomne wala.'"