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Ravindra Jadeja has put out a statement on social media responding to his father’s comments on an alleged rift within the Jadeja family, calling the interview “scripted and meaningless”.

In an interview with Gujarat daily Divya Bhaskar, Jadeja’s father Anirudhsinh claimed that his son is not on talking terms with him or his sister, alleging a family dispute over money and putting his wife Rivaba at the centre of it.

Jadeja’s father: “I have absolutely no relation with Ravindra and his wife”

“Do you want me to tell you one truth? I have absolutely no relation with Ravindra and his wife, Rivaba. We don’t call them, and they don’t call us,” Jadeja’s father said in the interview, as quoted by Indian Express.

“The issues started after two or three months of their marriage,” his father continued. “I currently live alone in Jamnagar, while Ravindra resides in a separate bungalow of his own. He lives in the same city, but I don’t get to see him. I don’t know what magic his wife has done on him.”

“He is my son, and it burns my heart. I wish I hadn’t gotten him married. It would have been better if he hadn’t become a cricketer. We would not have to go through all this in that case,” Anirudhsinh said.

“Within three months of the marriage, she [Rivaba] told me that everything should be transferred to her name. She created a rift in our family. She didn’t want the family and desired an independent life. I could be wrong, and Naynaba [Ravindra’s sister] could be wrong, but you tell me, how can all 50 members of our family be wrong? There’s no relation with anyone in the family; there’s just hate.

“I don’t want to hide anything. We haven’t even seen the face of our granddaughter in five years”.

Jadeja responds: “It is one-sided, which I deny”

In a Gujarati statement shared on social media, Ravindra Jadeja responded to his father’s interview, asking the public to “ignore what’s said in scripted interviews”.

The statement read: “All the things stated in the absurd interview of Divya Bhaskar are meaningless and untrue. There is something to be said on one side [it is one sided], which I deny. The efforts being made to tarnish the image of my wife are indeed condemnable and indecent. I also have a lot to say, which is better if I don’t say it publicly.”

Jadeja is currently recuperating from a hamstring injury that he sustained during the first Test against England.