Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar offered a candid assessment of England’s struggles after their 1-4 Ashes defeat to Australia, suggesting that the result should not have surprised observers outside England. With captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum facing mounting criticism back home, Gavaskar argued that England’s sporting performances often fail to meet the high expectations created by media hype.
Gavaskar questioned the gap between perception and reality surrounding English teams across sports.
“England’s performances in most sports are a huge let-down when set against the write-ups their teams receive from people who have hardly, if ever, played any sport at the highest level. The disappointment, therefore, is far greater
when the teams show that they are more paper tigers than real ones,” Sunil Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
Reflecting on the Ashes outcome, Gavaskar said the margin of defeat was predictable given how difficult it is for touring sides to win Test series in countries like Australia and India.
“England’s capitulation to Australia by a 4-1 margin was, therefore, not really a surprise for the non-English. It is extremely tough for visiting teams to win a Test series anywhere, especially in Australia and India. India themselves, however, were beaten comprehensively by New Zealand a couple of years ago and by South Africa late last year,” he added.
‘Surprise Wore Off’
Gavaskar also analysed the decline of England’s aggressive ‘Bazball’ approach under McCullum, noting that the initial element of surprise had faded.
“McCullum brought the same freshness to England’s cricket, and that took the rest of the cricketing world by surprise. Gone was the dreary, dull cricket they played, and suddenly, the opposition did not know how to counter it. However, as with so-called mystery bowlers, the surprise wore off. Once teams realised that England had little answer whenever the ball deviated, provided the pitches were not flat, the problems became evident,” he wrote, pointing out England’s struggles whenever conditions offered movement.
“With their media making excuses for them about pitches when they were overseas, the batters refused to change their approach and bat according to the situation. With the management also ignoring some of the unforgivable and irresponsible shots played by the batters, the fear of being left out simply is not there. Valuing playing for your country and putting a minimum price of a century on your wicket is something only the great Joe Root does. The others could not be bothered, as they knew they were unlikely to be left out of the squad”
“What the media calls fearless cricket today often looks more like couldn’t-care-less cricket. With the guarantee of a central contract and the various T20 leagues around the cricketing world, there is no worry about how to put food on the table, which was the case when these facilities were not there and losing a Test place meant going back to mundane first-class cricket, where one hardly earned enough, let alone saved for a rainy day,” Gavaskar wrote.
“How many in the England team that lost the Ashes series can put their hands on their hearts and say that they gave it everything, not just physically but, more crucially, temperamentally, in the series? You tell me,” he signed off.
(With inputs from Agencies)
