Sachin Tendulkar, Gavaskar, Vengsarkar are from Goa, says Manohar Parrikar

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has claimed that all the top Indian cricketers whose surname ends with ‘kar’ hail from the state. According to him, the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, who are born in Mumbai, are from Goa originally. However, India possesses a lot of cricketers who have served the cricket in the country for more than decades. Sanjay Manjrekar, Ravi Shastri, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly are some of the former legends who have donned the blue jersey and represented India over the last few years.

In India, if cricket is a religion then Sachin Tendulkar is the ‘God’ for the cricket fans. Similarly, cricketers are treated as celebrities in the country as the sport is passionately followed. Virat Kohli, the current Indian skipper across all formats and former captain MS Dhoni are the current players who are most followed around the world and they have achieved it with their hard work like their former stalwarts.

They are Goans by genetics

Manohar Parrikar believes by his strange logic that all the players who have ‘kar’ in their names have some link with Goa state around 400 years back. “All top Indians in cricket have ‘kar’. That is (from) Goa or greater Goa. That is Gavaskar, Vengsarkar, you will find their original, four hundred years back, till the Portuguese drove them out. They may not be born in Goa, but they are Goans by genetics, he said while speaking at Dilip Sardesai Sports Excellence award function in the state capital on Friday.

He underlined the potential of his state by stating the names of the legends like Tendulkar, Gavaskar etc. and termed them as ‘Goans’. “Tendulkar (and) all kars are Goans. So basically that is the potential of the state,” he continued. However, the Dilip Sardesai award for the year 2017 was awarded to Taekwondo player P. Anand by Parrikar in the presence of the son of late cricketer Rajdeep Sardesai.