Chetan Chauhan and I responsible for players’ tax exemption in India, reveals Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar has revealed that he, alongside his former opening partner late Chetan Chauhan, met India’s then finance minister and requested him to consider a tax exemption for match fees. Gavaskar, in his tribute, also spoke about the interactions he had with Chauhan in recent years.
History might remember Sunil Gavaskar in glowing terms for being an extraordinary batsman, but the man who helped Gavaskar by holding up one end was no less a legend too. Chetan Chauhan was, during his playing days, grittiness personified and later became a solid politician in the Uttar Pradesh Government. After his passing away, it came as a personal jolt to Gavaskar, who shared many amicable moments with the man from Delhi, and, in a tribute he wrote, Gavaskar shared an unheard story of how sportspersons in India got the tax exemptions thanks to combined efforts of himself and Chauhan back in the 70s.
“There's one thing that few players of my generation and the one immediately after that don't know is his contribution in getting tax exemptions for them. Both of us first met up with the late Shri R Venkataraman, who was the finance minister of the country then and requested him to consider a tax exemption for fees received for playing for India. In this aspect, I must add that it wasn't just for cricket but for all sportspersons who played for India. We explained how when we were junior cricketers we had to spend a lot of money on equipment, travel, coaches, etc when we had no income at all,” Gavaskar wrote, reported Cricbuzz.
“Shri Venkatramanji was most considerate and in a notification he passed a ruling that gave us 75% standard deduction for a Test match fee then an exemption on 50% of the tour fees which we received before leaving for a tour. His desire to help others manifested in him joining politics and right till the end he was a giver, not a taker.”
Both Gavaskar and Chauhan shared many memorable opening partnerships for India and scored 3010 runs together at an average of 53.75. Their 213-run partnership at The Oval in 1979 had then got the better of the famous long-standing record of Vijay Merchant and Syed Mushtaq Ali who had put on 203 runs at Old Trafford in 1936. Gavaskar remembered the person who added value to his cricketing life and remained a joyful man long after the cricketing career was over.
"Aaja, aaja, gale mil[come, give me a hug], after all we are in the mandatory overs of life" was the usual greeting of my opening partner Chetan Chauhan whenever we met over the last two or three years. The meetings were invariably at his beloved Ferozeshah Kotla ground where he was in charge of the pitch preparation. As we hugged I would say to him that "no, no we must have another century partnership" and he would laugh and then say "arre baba you are the century maker, not me".
“Never in my wildest nightmares could I believe that his words about being in the mandatory overs of life would come true so soon. It's so hard to believe that his laughter and cheerful banter won't be there the next time I go to Delhi,” Gavaskar wrote.