After India’s 4-1 Test series win against England, probably the happiest man on Indian soil was legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar. He ploughed through England for considering themselves above all others, stating India smashed such a ‘Superiority complex’ in which Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took pride.
Though India were down 0-1 in the Test Series, Gavaskar said that youngsters like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Devdutt Padikkal, and Akash Deep make the series worth rememberable, putting England and Bazball in its place.
“What a walloping, what great fun to watch a young India team demolish an England team that had arrived in India with the usual ‘we are doing you a favour’ attitude that brings a smirk on the faces of those Indian officials who go to receive them at various airports,” HT quoted Gavaskar’s writing in his column for The Sportstar.
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Gavaskar also rued England’s unnecessary chirping throughout the series and linked it to their lack of success in the Indian Premier League, unlike the Australians.
Compared with Australian cricketers like Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, who broke the bank during the IPL 2024 auction in December, Gavaskar pointed out that English players have more often than not hit the jackpot.
“The Aussies have been invariably better, looking to adapt themselves to the culture and not look down their noses at us natives. It also helps that the Aussies recognise a golden goose when they see one, and the IPL is certainly a humongous golden goose. Not only do Aussie players, some so memorably described by Kevin Pietersen as second or third-grade cricketers, go for astronomical amounts, but there are also Aussie coaches, physios, trainers, and anybody who is their golf and beer buddy in the IPL coaching staff, making more money than they do at home,” Gavaskar added.
On England’s players auction for IPL:
Gavaskar noted that though Sam Curran’s ₹18.5 crore bid by Punjab Kings and Ben Stokes’ ₹16.25 crore pick by Chennai Super Kings in 2023 remained in the list of top 10 costly players of all time, sledging and the attitude of pointing fingers stems from their unsuccessful history at the IPL.
“That is also the reason why the England and Indian players get into verbal skirmishes so often when they are playing against each other. Not a lot of England players are picked in the IPL, mainly because they can be withdrawn by their Board anytime for a preparation camp or something, which leaves the franchises in a lurch,” he mentioned.
“Some of them can’t stomach the fees for which some of the Indian players are bought and compare their achievements at the international level when the IPL auction dynamics can be so volatile and hard to explain or even understand. So you see more lip in the India-England encounters than in any other India match. That’s why the pleasure of beating England is always greater,” he added.
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Published: 13 Mar 2024, 10:08 PM IST