Photo Credit: Instagram Photo of @gavaskarsunilofficial
Cricket Australia admitted that Sunil Gavaskar should have joined Allan Border on the podium to present the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the SCG on Sunday. Australia secured a six-wicket victory over India, winning the series 3-1 and reclaiming the trophy for the first time in a decade.
Both Border and Gavaskar were present at the SCG as commentators for the fifth Test, making Gavaskar’s absence from the stage during the trophy presentation surprising. Border congratulated Scott Boland and Jasprit Bumrah on receiving the player-of-the-match and player-of-the-series honors, respectively, before handing the trophy to Australian captain Pat Cummins.
Gavaskar, who attended all five Tests in the series, stated he was not invited by Cricket Australia to participate in the presentation ceremony following Australia’s victory.
“I certainly would have loved to have been there for the presentation,’’ Gavaskar told 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 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.”
Gavaskar also revealed he had been informed days earlier the trophy presentation would depend on which team won the series.
“I was just told before the Test started that was going to be the situation,” Gavaskar said, per the ABC.
“If India didn’t win or draw the series I wouldn’t be required … I’m not feeling sad, but I’m just feeling a little perplexed.
“It’s the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, both of us should have been there.”
A Cricket Australia spokesperson said in a statement: “We acknowledge it would have been preferable if both Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar had been asked to go on stage.”
Allan Border, who has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, expressed pride in having his name associated with the trophy, as the rivalry between India and Australia has grown to rival the intensity of the Ashes.
Although the situation was not as controversial as the four-fingered salute during Australia’s 4-0 victory over England in the 2017-18 Ashes, it was a missed opportunity to have both Border, 69, and Gavaskar, 75, together on stage. This was especially notable as the two nations will not meet in a Test series again until 2027 in India.
Border and Gavaskar had previously brought the trophy onto the field before the series opener in Perth, and Australian and Indian cricket legends participated in the trophy presentations at the start of each Test match.
Sunil Gavaskar, who scored 34 Test centuries and became the first cricketer to surpass 10,000 Test runs, is regarded as a legend of the game. During the series, he was vocal in his opinions, notably calling Yashasvi Jaiswal’s controversial dismissal at the MCG an “optical illusion.” He also criticized the SCG pitch, which produced a rapid Test match ending in under three days.
Gavaskar said on the ABC: “Former (Australian and England cricketers are) all the time talking about Indian pitches and conditions. We are not moaners and we are not whingers.
“You’ll never find us complaining. But 15 wickets in a day in India, man there would be hell.
“We had Glenn McGrath saying he’d never seen so much grass. Did you hear any former India cricketer moan about the pitch?”
“When we go out and play cricket we will toughen it out. And if we are beaten, we are beaten. Overseas it’s very difficult to beat home teams. I did say that when we saw the pitch yesterday, the cows could have gone and grazed on it.
“This is not the ideal Test match pitch that you want because you want it to go into a fourth and fifth day. Unless there is rain I don’t see us being here on day four.”
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Name of Author: Cricexec Staff
