IPL 2016: Tournament unfairly targeted over drought issue, feels Rahul Dravid and Sunil Gavaskar

Former Indian cricketers Rahul Dravid and Sunil Gavaskar have expressed their concerns over the manner in which the IPL has emerged as a ‘soft target’ in the drought issue concerning the Indian state of Maharashtra. While both the cricket legends strongly agreed that shortage of water was an issue which had to be dealt with on an emergency basis, singling out only cricket and in particular, the highly successful IPL, was unfair.

The former Indian skippers made their feelings known when responding to the Bombay High Court ruling on Friday that the 13 IPL matches which were to be held in Maharashtra after April 30th, including the final which was slated for the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, to be shifted out.

"Why only cricket has been singled out? What about gardening, swimming? You can go on and on. Only cricket has been singled out," Gavaskar told NDTV, as reported by Rediff.com.

"Not just in this, even when there is something political, cricket is singled out. When it comes to having ties with some country or not, it's cricket that is talked about," the former Indian opener said, giving a loose reference to how India – Pakistan bilateral cricket ties have been curtailed due to the persistent political tension between the two neighbouring countries.

Gavaskar feels that the amount of success the IPL has been able to achieve ever since its inception has made it an easy target.

"What do you think has been happening for the last 9-10 years? It's always something or the other cropping up before or during the IPL. Yes, it is a soft target," he said.

Gavaskar offered his sympathy to the people affected, especially the farmers who rely on water for their livelihood, but feels that it is the duty of the state and central governments to solve the water crisis by putting in long-term plans. He was also saddened by the judiciary’s failure to make note of the fact that no potable water was being used for watering the pitches.

“Farmers' life has to be an absolute priority. You cannot trivialise people who put bread on our table. That's an absolute priority," he said. "Is water being saved by not having IPL matches? If yes, how can it be done? The BCCI did guarantee that they will not use potable water. Franchises and BCCI, I believe, also offered to make a donation. Those two were significant and good gestures," he added.

"This is something that has to be done over a period of time. Last two-three years, there has been less and less rain. The national government has to think how to solve this problem. Everywhere there is this problem and with global warming, this will only increase," he said. "A policy has to be evolved so that we know that in case there is less rain, what is to be done. It can't be done by not just playing some matches in the IPL."

Echoing Gavaskar’s thoughts, Rahul Dravid also said that singling out IPL over the drought issue was rather baffling.

"It's a serious issue and the fact that so many people are dying because of a shortage of water is serious but linking it to IPL will trivialise it. How can a drought be as important as cricket? If not having IPL will solve the problem, then we should stop playing cricket," Dravid told NDTV.