Kannada actor Chetan Kumar has sparked a controversy once again by demanding reservations in Indian cricket after the team's defeat to Australia in the ICC World Cup 2023 final in Ahmedabad on Sunday night.
India lost after failing to defend a below-par score of 240 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
The batting failure in the first half and Travis Head's century in the chase made it nearly impossible for the Men in Blue to fight back or even put Australia under some pressure in the summit clash.
But Chetan Kumar reckons that "If India had cricket reservations, India would’ve easily won this World Cup. I repeat, India needs reservations in cricket."
Kumar continues to demand of quota in cricket
The actor and activist had made this demand earlier as well when he asked for caste-based reservation in selection for the Indian cricket team.
“In Indian cricket, 70 per cent of the players are from upper castes. If reservation is implemented in cricket as well, the team’s performance will be better,” Kumar had said last year in December while taking part in a discussion on reservation in Chamarajanagar.
“We need to see what is happening with the South African cricket team. The South African cricket board has made it mandatory to have a certain number of non-white players to be in their national team.
"In India, everyone knows how much money is involved in cricket and the influence of the media on it. If the Indian cricket team needs to perform well, reservation is also necessary. Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) reservations must be brought in for better performance," Kumar added.
