Sunil Gavaskar, the renowned former Indian cricketer, has hit back at Michael Vaughan's recent comments about Indian cricket. Vaughan suggested that Joe Root might soon surpass Sachin Tendulkar as the leading run-scorer in Test cricket and implied that the BCCI might do everything to prevent this from happening.
"If Joe goes past Sachin, it will be the best thing that ever happens to cricket, because there's no way BCCI would want an England player at the top of the list. They'll want an Indian at the top so that will secure Test match cricket because it'll take forever for someone to get past him," the former England captain had said.
Gavaskar, in response, has criticized these remarks and defended Indian cricket against what he views as unfair criticism.
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How did Sunil Gavaskar respond to Michael Vaughan's comments on BCCI?
In his column on Sportstar, Sunil Gavaskar has strongly objected to Vaughan's comments. He called Vaughan's suggestion about the BCCI's role in protecting Tendulkar's record as part of a broader trend of "India bashing."
"This business of India bashing has to be countered with aggression because that's the only language they understand."
Gavaskar questioned Vaughan indirectly, without taking his name, on why the Englishman believes Test cricket would benefit from Root breaking Tendulkar's record. He argued that Tendulkar's achievement is already significant and that such comments undermine the value of the record itself.
"Recently, I heard someone saying it would be good for Test cricket if Joe Root overtook Sachin Tendulkar's record for most runs and centuries in Test match cricket. Please tell us what's wrong with Test cricket presently when Tendulkar is owning the record and how will Test cricket be better if (and that's a huge if) an Englishman goes on to hold it. In what way will it be better? Kindly enlighten us."
Gavaskar also addressed the misconception that the BCCI is not supportive of Test cricket. He pointed out that India plays numerous Test matches each year, both at home and abroad.
"For some strange reason, there's a perception overseas that BCCI does not like Test cricket. That's a ridiculous notion, as India plays more than half a dozen Test matches every season, be it at home or away. Just because the IPL is massively successful doesn't mean BCCI is not interested in promoting Test cricket, but that's the narrative that's being peddled by the overseas media," he added.
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Gavaskar also raised concerns about the location of future World Test Championship finals. He said that previous announcements about the venue for the WTC final had changed when England was not in contention.
With England performing well, Gavaskar questioned if the final would indeed be held at Lord's as announced or if the venue might change again.
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