Sunil Gavaskar tore into England following India’s 4-1 series win and said their excessive chirping stems from swallowing a bitter pill in the IPL.
Sunil Gavaskar is on cloud nine seeing India’s 4-1 annihilation of England in the just-concluded 5-Test series of the Anthony de Mello Trophy. Never one to hold back, Gavaskar ploughed through England for considering themselves above all others, and pointed out that smashing such a Superiority complex is what makes India’s series win over Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum’s unit even sweeter.
Sunil Gavaskar did not hold back. (AP-Getty)
Of course, the fact that India were down 0-1 and without the likes of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul (technically) for the series, played its part in making this one of the home team’s greatest Test series win of all time. Add to that the emergence of youngsters such as Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Devdutt Padikkal and Akash Deep, all of whom had successful outings. But if there’s one thing that Gavaskar derives most satisfaction out of, it was a young Indian team putting England and Bazball in its place.
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“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,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for The Sportstar.
The legendary India batter also rued England’s unnecessary chirping throughout the series. Be it the British media or the verbal volleys, Gavaskar linked it to their lack of success in the Indian Premier League unlike the Australians. The men from Down Under have more often than not hit the jackpot when it comes to their performance in the IPL or fetching gobsmacking price tags. Look no further than Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, who broke the bank during the IPL 2024 auction in December and created history.
“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.
England’s hot-and-cold tryst with IPL
In comparison, players from England have never attained the same success – at least money-wise. Sam Curran’s ₹18.5 crore bid by Punjab Kings and Ben Stokes’ 16.25 crore pick by Chennai Super Kings in 2023 remain the only two English names in the list of top 10 costly players of all time. Joining the dots, Gavaskar went on to say that all this 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.”
