NEWS
Follow UsFollowing India’s stunning victory in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has labelled the Australian media as 'scaremongers'. The 75-year-old feels the media created wild narratives around the Perth surface, saying the pace and bounce will blow the Indian batters away, but things didn’t quite go as planned.
Australia did manage to dismiss India for 150 in the first innings, but they got all out for 104. Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul then added more than 200 runs for the opening wicket in the second innings before Virat Kohli’s century batted Australia out of the contest. The Australian batters looked clueless against Jasprit Bumrah, who finished with eight wickets in the game.
"All the boasts about how the pitch is going to be pacy and bouncy and scare the living daylights out of the Indian batters were exactly that - the boasts of a bully. Mind you, it wasn't the Aussie players but their support staff in the media, both electronic and print, who were trying to be scaremongers," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
"It was very similar to 2007/8 after the kerfuffle between Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds in the Sydney Test match. The Australian selectors had added Shaun Tait to the Aussie squad for the next Test match in Perth, and the media were going nuts, suggesting he was going to blow the Indians away on the fast, bouncy WACA pitch in Perth.”
Gavaskar also pointed at the possible rift in the Australian dressing room. Following the defeat, Josh Hazlewood was asked how Australia could turn things around in the remaining four games, to which the right-arm seamer replied: “You probably have to ask one of the batters that question... I’m probably looking mostly towards the next Test.”
Gavaskar added: "The panic in the Australian ranks is palpable, what with former players calling for heads to be chopped off and some even hinting at cracks in the Australian team after Josh Hazlewood’s media interview at the end of the third day’s play, where he suggested that it was up to the batters to now do something.
"Now, a few days later, Hazlewood is out of the second Test and possibly the series too with a supposed side strain. Strange, that, since nobody had noticed anything wrong with Hazlewood at that media conference. Mystery, mystery — the like of which used to be common in Indian cricket in the past. Now it’s the Aussies, and like old McDonald, I’m simply loving it.”
The second Test in Adelaide will be played with the pink ball, starting on December 6.
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