Former Australian cricket players are furious with Sunil Gavaskar’s sarcastic jab at Josh Hazlewood for skipping the Pink Ball Test in Adelaide, calling his accusations “rubbish.” As the Indians prepare to attempt to end the Baggy Greens’ home winning streak with the Pink Ball, the expert debate has already started and is becoming heated.
With a massive 295-run loss to the Indian squad, the host team’s first Test match in Perth finished with one of the most disappointing outcomes. With the news that star pacer Josh Hazlewood will miss the Test because of a side strain injury, things are not looking good for the Australians, who now lead the five-match Test series.
Cricket players from Australia are incensed by Gavaskar’s comments.
The Australian team is already suffering greatly from Hazelwood’s absence, and India great Sunil Gavaskar joked in his Sportstar column that there may be some politics surrounding Hazelwood’s availability for the second test. Some former Australian cricket players, however, didn’t agree with Gavaskar’s accusations and expressed their disapproval of his remarks.
“Look, there are no, factions,” said former Australian bowler Ryan Harris in response to Gavaskar’s comments to the Indian Express. All that is garbage. There are factions, I’ve even heard Mr. Gavaskar state publicly. It is all garbage. Australia doesn’t have that.
Not only did Harris criticise Gavaskar’s comments, but former T20 World champion captain Aaron Finch also voiced his disapproval of them.
The jabs are no longer used. Sunny is overdoing it with haymakers. Considering how much time I spent with him during the first test, he wasn’t saying things like that, so it’s really humorous.
We don’t fully understand why Hazlewood left the Test series, but it’s safe to assume that the rivalry between Australia and India has begun to expand off the ground as well, and things appear to be getting even more intense.