Not that he is ever out of the public scanner, Virat Kohli has been surely attracting some extra social media attention ever since Anushka Sharma’s pregnancy announcement. It was just recently that a video of him talking to Anushka from the field and using hand gestures to ask if she had eaten went viral.
That said fame, of course, has a flip side to it and you can not really say when public love might turn into public ire. Well, something very similar has been happening to Virat Kohli ever since the news of him going for paternity leave came out.
Kohli has been granted permission by BCCI to leave after the first match of the Test series against Australia next month. Clearly, Virat is all set to extend a warm welcome to his baby and fulfill all the daddy duties! This is indeed great news and we hope that the move inspires all the future dads to be to follow his lead.
That said, the decision is not really sitting well with some of the Indian cricket followers who have been calling out Virat for shunning “national duties.” He is also being compared to Mahendra Singh Dhoni who did not take a break for his daughter Ziva’s birth as a faction of netizens bash him for messing up with his duties.
Here’s what they have to say:
As some of these people on Twitter are trying to posit: yes, priorities matter! But who on Earth gave them the right to decide upon someone else’s priorities? It is really up to Virat to decide between his career and family and it is not like he is abandoning his career. He is just taking a break that too for something as special as the birth of his first child. How can someone possibly have a problem with that?
It would be considered absolutely normal for a woman to take maternity leave, right? Then why is it a problem when a man decided to go for paternity leave? Are men less responsible for their children than women? Also, what’s with all the comparisons? It is not like he was going for a war. And we really need to talk about the idea of playing cricket being referred to as a “national duty.” Don’t get us wrong, we aren’t against it. What we are actually against is the sentiments that get associated with that title making it okay for people to sit casually in the comforts of their home and hold these cricketers accountable for “serving the nation.”
It was just last month that rape threats were made to Dhoni’s 5-year-old daughter Ziva after his weak performance in an IPL match. How is this madness justified? Thankfully, there still exist sensible, reasonable people who have come in Virat’s support and are educating these aggressive cricket fans about priorities:
Lastly, can we all please stop shaming men for being equal partners and sharing the child care duties? Seriously, this is how it should be!
Featured Image: Instagram
