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Legendary India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has once again lashed out at the England team following the drama that unfolded during the fifth day of the Manchester Test. It all began when the duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar refused to take up Ben Stokes' offer of calling the match as a draw with 15 overs left in the day. This decision was taken due to the fact that both the batters were quite close to reaching their hundreds, but it left the England camp fuming.
Stokes put in Harry Brook and Joe Root into the attack and even mocked the Indian batters for bringing up their centuries against part-time bowlers. The duo of Jadeja and Sundar targeted Brook and both of them soon went on to reach triple-figures.
Gavaskar has now called out Ben Stokes & Co. and has even accused them of hypocrisy while talking about an incident from the second Test of the series held at Edgbaston. India went on to win that match by a mammoth 336-run margin.
"At one of the media conferences after the defeat in the second Test in Birmingham, some England players, trying to be funny, asked why India set them a target of over 600. They even went so far as to say that India were scared they'd chase anything above 450. The fact is, when they were on a high from scoring piles of runs on flat tracks and fast outfields in Pakistan, they even boasted ahead of the India tour last year that they could chase down 600. Well, talk is cheap, and when given the chance to put their money where their mouth is by chasing over 600 in Birmingham, they ended up losing by 336 runs. Yes, they didn't even get to 300 while boasting of chasing over 600," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
Gavaskar was critical of remarks made by the England team
The former India batter further criticized England for making 'sarcastic' remarks towards the duo of Jadeja and Sundar, both of whom were batting in 80s at the time. He also claimed that if the roles were reversed, then Stokes would have let his players bat until they reached their hundreds.
"They made sarcastic remarks about the batters, who were in their 80s, getting to their centuries off the bowling of a batter. What they overlooked was the hard work and resilience the batters had shown against frontline bowlers for over four hours to reach the 80s. If they wanted a hundred for their efforts, England should have denied them with proper bowlers rather than whining about them getting there against Harry Brook. A Test century isn't easy and doesn't come every match, so the batters were fully entitled to bat on and reach their personal landmarks - which they eventually did. If I were the captain, I'd have told them to keep batting and play out the remaining overs, tiring out the fielders even more - especially after the shenanigans by the English players once their offer was declined," Gavaskar added.
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Meanwhile, England head into the fifth and final Test of the series with a 2-1 lead. They are definitely the favourites to lift the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy as even a draw in the upcoming game would see them win the series. Though India can't win the series, they still can manage to level it up with a victory in the fifth Test which is set to commence at The Oval from July 31.
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