Yesterday I read a story about Sunil Gavaskar giving the Aussie team a bit of verbal in an Indian magazine. He said that "Australia's comeuppance at the hands of England and New Zealand has gladdened the hearts of not just the other aspirants for the World Cup but also the followers of the game".
He also said the Australian team, while being a champion side, "have also been awful in the way they have sometimes behaved on the field much to the chagrin of the traditional fans of the game".
Speaking about annoying the fans, lets flash back to 1975 World Cup when the great Sunny really pissed off the Indian fans. England had made 334 from their 60 overs, but Sunny 'played for the draw' and made 36 from 174 balls as India replied with 3/132. It was terribly ugly batting and totally selfish. In fact a few times during his innings, Indian fans broke onto the pitch and pleaded with him to put some effort in and try to chase the runs. But Sunny batted out the innings in one of the World Cup's darkest moments. So lets not hear any crap from Sunny about keeping the fans satisfied.
Australia on the other hand has promoted positive cricket, with way fewer draws and faster scoring rates than when Sunny and Indians were playing out 0-0 Test series' with Pakistan in the 70s and 80s.
While he was a great batsmen in his day, I'm afraid that Mr Gavaskar coming out and saying that he enjoyed Australia's last few losses just makes him seem like a sour has-been loser, just like Bob Simpson whenever he gets an interview.
1 comment:
People should read this.
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