Gautam Gambhir responds bluntly to BCCI’s family policy after Virat Kohli's public criticism

Gautam Gambhir breaks silence on BCCI's new family policy. (Photo: ICC and X)

After India’s disappointing series loss to Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the BCCI introduced a new set of rules, one of which limits the duration families can accompany players during long tours. According to the new guidelines, families can accompany players for only 14 days during tournaments lasting 45 days or longer.

This rule drew criticism from star batter Virat Kohli, who openly expressed his disapproval. However, Gambhir took a different stance, stating bluntly that players must remember they are not on a holiday when representing the country abroad. While he acknowledged that families can be present during tours, he emphasized that cricket should remain the players’ primary focus.

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"Families are important, but you've got to understand one thing. You are here for a purpose. It's not a holiday. You're here for a huge purpose. You've got very few people in that dressing room or in this tour that gets this opportunity to make the country proud. So yes, I'm not against not having families with us," said Gambhir.

"It is important to have families, but if your focus is towards making our country proud and you have a much bigger role than any other thing, and you're committed to that goal, you're committed to that cause, I think everything else is fine. But for me, I think that cause and that goal is more important than any other thing," he added.

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What did Virat Kohli say about the family rule?

"It's very difficult to explain to people how grounding it is to just come back to your family every time you have something which is intense, which happens on the outside. I don't think people have an understanding of what value it brings to a large extent. And I feel quite disappointed about that because it's like people who have no control over what's going on are kind of brought into conversations and put out at the forefront that, 'oh, maybe they need to be kept away',” said Kohli said at the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit.