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Sunil Gavaskar has questioned why he wasn’t asked by Cricket Australia to present the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Australia at the SCG.
After the hosts completed a six-wicket victory to claim the series 3-1, and secure the trophy for the first time since March 2017, it was Australian great Allan Border who handed it over to Pat Cummins for the team’s victory celebrations.
However, Gavaskar, who was on hand at the SCG commentating for Seven and ABC Radio, is curious why he was snubbed.
“I certainly would have loved to have been there for the presentation,” Gavaskar said to Code Sports.
“After all, it is the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and it is about Australia and India. I mean, I am here at the ground.
“To me it should not matter [if] Australia won when it comes to the presentation. They played the better cricket, so they won. That’s fine.
“I would have been happy to present the trophy with my good friend Allan Border.”
Cricket Australia confirmed to News Corp that ‘it would have been preferable’ to have both Gavaskar and Border present, saying the Indian legend was slated to give the trophy to Jasprit Bumrah had India won the Test and retained it.
Sunil Gavaskar. (Photo by Jason McCawley – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
Virat Kohli taunted Australian fans right to the very end, celebrating the demise of Steve Smith with a sandpaper sledge.
After Smith, who was banned for his role in the infamous use of sandpaper against South Africa in 2018, was dismissed on 9999 career runs, Kohli pulled out his pockets apparently to show the crowd he wasn’t hiding any sandpaper in them and then rubbed an imaginary ball.
Smith was dismissed for four, surprised as a ball from Prasidh Krishna reared off a length.
Few players have ever divided opinion in their first two Tests quite like Sam Konstas, and debate over the 19-year old’s style is sure to intensify after an ugly dismissal on Day 3 at the SCG.
With Australia needing 162 to claim victory – and regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Konstas began in typically blazing fashion, dancing down the pitch and lofting Mohammed Siraj over mid-off for four in the first over.
He raced to 22 off just 16 balls, but that’s where the fun would end, a wild heave across the line bringing a top edge to mid-off off Prasidh Krishna.
Having seen Australia to the most runs in the first three overs in any innings in the nation’s Test history, Michael Vaughan was scathing of the shot that brought about his downfall.
“That’s not a good shot. He’s a better player than that,” Vaughan said on Fox Cricket.
“He’s been playing quite nicely, with those works on the on side. This is just an almighty slog.
“It’s the kind of series where you can never rule India out, and you don’t want to give them an easy couple of wickets.”
Konstas’ downfall would precipitate a mini-collapse to send shudders through the Australian camp, with Marnus Labuschagne (6) and Steve Smith (4) falling too to send the score from 0/39 to 3/58.
Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar has slammed the SCG pitch for the fifth Test between Australia and India, and said that had a similar strip been prepared for a match in India, ‘all hell would have broken loose’.
26 wickets have fallen in just two days in Sydney, including 15 on Day 2 alone, with both teams bowled out for under 200 on a pitch offering plenty of sideways movement and uneven bounce to the seam bowlers.
Only Beau Webster and Rishabh Pant have so much as reached half-centuries thus far, with Pant’s innings a remarkable counterattacking cameo that saw him reach the milestone in 29 balls, the second-fastest 50 by an Indian in Test cricket.
Combined with a rare absence of Sydney rain, and the series decider looks set to be completed in just three days.
Speaking on ABC Radio, Gavaskar wasn’t impressed.
“When I saw the pitch I did say the cows could have gone and grazed on it,” he said.
“This is not the ideal Test match pitch that you want because you want it to go into a fourth or the fifth day.”
Gavaskar is also surprised at the lack of backlash over the surface, with Indian pitches frequently criticised as being substandard with similar bowler-friendly conditions – albeit primarily favouring spin bowling, not pace.
“If 15 wickets fell in India, all hell would have broken loose,” he said.
“We had Glenn McGrath saying he’d never seen so much grass. The point is, when you go overseas you have to be prepared to play on the surface.”
“Did you hear any former India cricketer moan about the pitch?
“We are not moaners, we are not whingers. When we go [overseas] and play cricket, we will tough it out, and if we are beaten, we are beaten.
“We understand that overseas it’s very difficult to beat home teams. You’ll never find us complaining.
“But 15 wickets in a day in India, man, there would be hell.”
India resume on Day 3 6/141, leading Australia by 145 runs.
Indian fans hoping for positive signs from Jasprit Bumrah going into Day 3 of the fifth Test certainly haven’t got what they wanted.
Bumrah, who has a remarkable 32 wickets for the series, left the field midway through Day 2, with Virat Kohli captaining the Indian team in his absence.
He was later seen leaving the SCG and heading to hospital for scans, with teammate Prasidh Krishna confirming after play that he had been suffering from back spasms.
The signs appeared positive when Bumrah returned to the ground late in the day looking in positive spirits, but as Fox Cricket commentators Mark Howard, Alyssa Healy and Michael Hussey watched on on the morning of Day 3, the signs weren’t good.
“We watched Jasprit Bumrah – all the bowlers have warmed up. Bumrah didn’t warm up,” Howard said.
“He came out, just slowly walked around about five minutes ago, [then] he walked back into the pavilion. Didn’t look in the rudest of health.
“All the other bowlers were having a run-through, which he normally does… didn’t do anything.”
“He looked very ginger – he’s also in his sneakers, so at no point did he even contemplate bowling,” Healy added.
“It doesn’t look positive at the moment.”
For Hussey, the potential loss of Bumrah was a massive boon to Australia, and particularly the top order, with Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne both falling to the champion quick in the first innings.
“It’s a huge loss for India obviously if he’s not fit to bowl this afternoon. That maybe puts it in Australia’s favour,” Hussey said.
“I’m sure there’d be a few top-order Australian batsmen who would be pretty happy to see him not bowling.”
However, with Bumrah restricted to ten overs in Australia’s first innings, his teammates stepped up to bowl the hosts out for 181 and take a shock lead, with Krishna (3/42), Mohammed Siraj (3/51) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (2/32) all doing their bit.
Bumrah was able to bat in India’s second innings, but he’d be bowled for a duck by Scott Boland as India managed just 157, setting Australia 162 to win the match and the series.
However, he wasn’t able to bowl before lunch in Australia’s run chase, with Siraj and Krishna taking the new ball.
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