World Cup 2019: Dapper Shashi Tharoor has no issue with saffron jersey

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor sports a saffron waist coat at the India v England tie in Birmingham yesterday. Pic/Harit N Joshi

Birmingham: Amidst the controversy back in India over the saffron jersey that Virat Kohli & Co sported as part of their away kit against England during yesterday's World Cup match, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor found nothing controversial about it.

The Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP) objected to the use of the saffron-coloured jersey, referring it to be the colour of the ruling BJP government. Tharoor is here to make a couple of speeches at the Bradford Literary Festival.

Supporting saffron

"As you can see, even I am wearing one too," he said, chatting with mid-day from the hospitality stand. "There was a saffron stripe in our Blue jersey anyway. So, they simply made saffron the prominent thing, that's all. It is one of the colours from our national flag, so I don't know what the controversy should be all about. I am also wearing saffron in solidarity with my team.

"The rule is very simple…if both, the host and visiting team have the same [jersey] colour, then to avoid the confusion for the TV viewers, the visitors have to have a different colour. So, that means if England come to India, they will have to change their colour and we will retain our Blue jersey,"
said Tharoor.

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Tharoor, a cricket buff, said that he was able to come for the match as it was on a weekend and Parliament duty comes first. "To be honest, I had no intention of making it for the match. But I had a couple of speeches yesterday [Saturday] in Bradford, so I made the speeches and I came here for the match," he said.

Back to Parliament

"Tonight, I will fly back for Parliament on Monday. When the Parliament is in session, there is no question of watching the entire World Cup. I will watch the final on a big screen somewhere," he said.

Tharoor was glad with Team India's professional approach in all aspects. "India are a very professional outfit. The most visible evidence of this is fielding which is a notch above any other team in the world. Possibly, the Australians come close, but they [India] are an outstanding fielding side. The fast bowling has changed so much from my childhood. The spinners can come into their own if they have helpful conditions. Kuldeep [Yadav] has not had a good World Cup because he did not get the kind of surfaces for his bowling. Today, I am glad, he got the first wicket [of Jason Roy]. He needs that encouragement," said Tharoor.

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