Legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar was left high and dry at the end of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He is one of the cricketers after whom the India-Australia series is named. However, he was not called on the stage to present the trophy at the end of the series.
Australia won a Test series against India after 10 years as they won the five-match rubber 3-1. It was only Allan Border who did the honours and handed over the coveted Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Pat Cummins. Gavaskar was present on the ground and was a part of various broadcasting teams (television and radio) but wasn’t invited to the podium.
The 75-year-old made his displeasure about the incident very clear and slammed Cricket Australia (CA). He mentioned that it doesn’t matter if Australia won the series, he would’ve happily presented the Trophy alongside Allan Border.
“I certainly would have loved to have been there for the presentation. After all, it is the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and it is about Australia and India. I mean, I am here on the ground. To me it should not matter that Australia won when it comes to the presentation. They played better cricket so they won. That’s fine. Just because I am an Indian (I did not present the trophy). I would have been happy to present the trophy with my good friend Allan Border,” Gavaskar was quoted saying to Code Sports.
Cricket Australia (CA) have responded on the matter and admitted that it would’ve been ideal to have both Gavaskar and Border on stage.
“We acknowledge it would have been preferable if both Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar had been asked to go on stage,” a CA spokesperson was quoted saying.
Gavaskar questions Gautam Gambhir and support staff
India have endured a tough run in the last few months. They were whitewashed by New Zealand at home (0-3). That was their first Test series defeat in India since December 2012. They then lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 1-3.
Hence, it’s not been the best of starts for Gautam Gambhir and co in the red-ball format. Gavaskar came down hard on the Indian coaching setup and wants questions to be asked.
“I don’t know about merit in having different coaches. That is something, you know, that we need to look at in a different scenario, not right now. But surely questions have to be asked of him (Gambhir) and his coaching staff. What were they doing that we had this situation where we are losing, losing, losing?” Gavaskar was quoted saying to India Today.
India’s next big assignment is the 2025 Champions Trophy. They don’t play another Test match for six months and their next series will be in England which is a part of the next 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.
