Sunil Gavaskar, former Indian cricket team captain and batting great, is known to be unsparing if he does not approve of something. Quite often even Indian players have been on his target. Just like he never shies away from praising Indians after a good show, he often criticises them after a bad performance. The same happened during India vs Australia Test match in Melbourne in December, 2024, after Rishabh Pant got out to poor shot on the third day. With Ravindra Jadeja (17 off 51 balls) for company, Pant did start well and got a few boundaries but then the urge to play the falling lap pull over long-leg led to his dismissal.
Seeing that dismissal, Sunil Gavaskar commented: “Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! You’ve got two fielder there and you still go for that. You’ve missed the previous shot and look where you’ve been caught. You’ve caught at deep third man. That is throwing away your wicket. Not in the situation that India was. You have to understand the situation as well. You cannot say that is your natural game. I am sorry that is not your natural game. That is a stupid shot. That is letting your team down badly. He should not be going in that (Indian) dressing room, he should be going into the other dressing room.”
On Tuesday, Sunil Gavaskar again had his tryst with the ‘stupid, stupid, stupid’ comment ahead of the IPL 2025 game between Lucknow Super Giants and Punjab Kings at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.
When he was asked about Lucknow’s aggressive batting, Gavaskar: “I wish you had asked me this question a little while earlier because I spent a little time with Rishabh Pant, and I would have certainly asked him if that was the reason why you guys are playing like that. Maybe he would have responded, stupid, stupid, stupid question.
“I think when you look at Nicholas Pooran and Mitchell Marsh, they’re naturally aggressive players. I think that’s the way they play and that’s so exciting to watch. And then there’s Rishabh Pant also coming down the order. So they really have the batting, and they obviously know that. Look, if they don’t have your sharp-edge bowlers, then you certainly need to put more runs on the board to give your other bowlers that much of a cushion in case they don’t have a good day,” he added.
Meanwhile, LSG lost the game by eight wickets.
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