"Have seen cracks in Perth and Brisbane but when it happens in India, all hell breaks loose.."- Sunil Gavaskar slams England's pitch whining

Former Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar had a harsh choice of words for the English media and to those ex-England cricketers who ranted about the huge cracks appearing in the pitch of the JSCA stadium here in Ranchi, which is hosting the 4th Test of a 5-match series between India and England. The curators had dished out a slow and spin-friendly track for the penultimate fixture in which the hosts require only 192 runs to triple their lead.

Sunil Gavaskar took note of the biased England media who criticized the curators for creating a track of this sort, which is a classic and vintage surface you generally find in India. Outside noises about Indian pitches are not anything new either but it’s certainly quite irritating to hear this rant all the time. It shows how insecure these foreign media outlets are when their teams fail to win a match in those conditions or when the pitch behaves in some way.

Michael Vaughan and Ollie Pope’s statements on the Ranchi track before the 4th Test began

After getting the first look at the pitch in Ranchi, former England captain Michael Vaughan who always delivers derogatory comments about India when they lose a match and tries to hide the drawbacks of the England team when they lose a match, took to X (formerly Twitter) and called the Ranchi as an absolute shocker.

“The old saying. Do not judge a pitch till both teams have batted and bowled on it .. but let’s be honest .. this one looks a shocker.” – Vaughan had wrote on X.

Before he made this expression, England’s number 3 batter Ollie Pope who came on this tour to just play an impressive knock in the 1st Test and then go in quiet or silent mode in the following matches, had claimed the Ranchi pitch looked interesting to him but was seemingly crying about it being in favor of India.

“It’s an interesting pitch. Won’t necessarily be better of a wicket. If they want to leave a bit of grass on it or shave it off. There is every chance they would do that (remove the grass) especially because they have watered it. With Jasprit missing, they might go down that avenue.” – Pope had said during a press conference before the 4th Test. 

And then one must also notice the hypocrisy of former England cricketers who changed their stance totally when Joe Root kicked out the Bazball approach to produce a masterclass knock in the 1st innings at Ranchi by remaining not out at 122. That same Michael Vaughan would then Tweet, “The pitch is clearly no longer a shocker.” Now that’s “Hypocrisy personified”.

Sunil Gavaskar gives a fitting reply

While speaking to Jio Cinema yesterday, Sunil Gavaskar was all of us when lashing out at foreign media for constantly criticizing Indian pitches to hide their shortcomings. The 72-year-old somehow made similar remarks to that of Rohit Sharma’s when his Indian team defeated South Africa in the Cape Town Test.

“I have seen cracks in the pitches of Perth and Brisbane. When the ball hits the crack in Perth, it goes very viciously past your head. But then nothing happens. You got to play that. You got to show your gumption and guts. But when it happens in India, oh my god, all hell breaks loose.” – Sunil Gavaskar said via Jio Cinema.