Gavaskar unleashes at panicked Australian team and ‘scaremongering’ media

The Australian Test team is in panic mode and Aussie media are ‘scaremongering’ according to Indian great Sunil Gavaskar. And he’s loving every bit of it.

INDIAN great Sunil Gavaskar has branded Australia’s media “scaremongers’’ and claims the home nation is in panic mode after the first Test loss in Perth.

And, what’s more, he’s loving it.

“All the boasts about how the (Perth) 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,’’ Gavaskar wrote in an explosive column in the Indian Sportstar.

“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.’’

Sunil Gavaskar has unleashed at the Australia cricket community. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

Gavaskar seemed intrigued by Josh Hazlewood’s “strange’’ decision to pull out of the second Test with a side strain.

“The panic in the Australian ranks is palpable, what with former players calling for heads to be chopped off and even some hinting at cracks in the Australian team after Josh Hazlewood’s media interview where he suggested 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 with a supposed side strain.

Josh Hazlewood won’t play in the second Test. Picture: SAEED KHAN / AFP

“Strange that, since nobody had noticed anything wrong with Hazlewood at that media conference. Mystery, mystery ... the likes of which used to be common in Indian cricket. Now it’s the Aussies and, like old McDonald, I’m loving it.’’

Gavaskar described the Indian win as “one of the best I have been privileged to be present at.’’

He said the hype around the Perth pitch took him back to the Monkeygate series in 2007-08 when Australia, rocked by the drama of the Sydney Test, injected firebrand Shaun Tait into the Perth Test with the expectation he would tear the Indian top order apart.

“The media were going nuts suggesting he was going to blow the Indians away on a fast, bouncy pitch in Perth. What happened? The Wall (Rahul Dravid) was so solid but before that the swashbuckling Virender Sehwag had just swatted Brett Lee, Tait, and the others as if he was swatting the famous Perth flies.

“He singled out Tait for special attention as if to rubbish the Aussie media claims about the pacers scaring Indian batters. At the end of the match guess what happened? Tait took an indefinite break from international cricket.’’

Originally published as Gavaskar unleashes at panicked Australian team and ‘scaremongering’ media