Cricket Australia respond as Sunil Gavaskar snubbed from trophy presentation

Cricket Australia has responded after an Indian legend was snubbed from the Border Gavaskar Trophy presentation ceremony.

Cricket Australia has conceded Sunil Gavaskar should have been on the podium along with Allan Border to present the trophy named in their honour at the SCG on Sunday.

Australia claimed a six-wicket win over India to seal a 3-1 series victory and reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade.

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Both Border and Gavaskar were at the SCG commentating on the fifth Test, so there was some surprise when Gavaskar didn’t join Border up on the stage to present the trophy.

Border congratulated Scott Boland and Jasprit Bumrah on their the player of the match and player of the series honours before presenting the trophy to Australian captain Pat Cummins.

Gavaskar, who attended all five Tests of the summer, said he wasn’t asked by Cricket Australia to be part of the trophy presentation ceremony since the Aussies were victorious.

There was plenty of space next to Allan Border on stage. (Photo by Saeed KHAN / AFP)

“I certainly would have loved to have been there for the presentation,’’ Gavaskar told Code Sports.

“After all it is the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and it is about Australia and India.

“I mean, I am here at the ground. To me it should not matter Australia won when it comes to the presentation. They played the better cricket so they won. That’s fine.

“I would have been happy to present the trophy with my good friend Allan Border.”

Pat Cummins receives the Border Gavaskar Trophy from Allan Border. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

Gavaskar also revealed he had been informed days earlier the trophy presentation would depend on which team won the series.

“I was just told before the Test started that was going to be he situation,” Gavaskar said, per the ABC.

“If India didn’t win or draw the series I wouldn’t be required … I’m not feeling sad, but I’m just feeling a little perplexed.

“It’s the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, both of us should have been there.”

A Cricket Australia spokesperson said in a statement: “We acknowledge it would have been preferable if both Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar had been asked to go on stage.”

Border, who has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, has explained how proud he was to have his name on the trophy as the rivalry between India and Australia has grown to be nearly as fierce as the Ashes.

The snub wasn’t nearly as off colour as the tasteless four-fingered salute on the stage as Australia celebrated a 4-0 victory over England in the 2017-18 Ashes.

India’s Jasprit Bumrah receives the Player of the Series award from Allan Border. (Photo by Saeed KHAN / AFP)

But it was a missed opportunity to get Border, 69, and Gavaskar, 75, up on stage together given the two nations won’t face off in a Test series until 2027 in India.

Border and Gavaskar had brought the trophy onto the field before the series opener in Perth, and a pair of Australian and Indian cricket greats had presented the trophy at the start of each Test match.

Gavaskar scored 34 Test centuries in his career and was the first player to score 10,00 runs in Test cricket.

He has become an ornament to the game and wasn’t afraid to express his opinion during the five-Test series.

Sunil Gavaskar is one of India’s greatest ever cricketers. (Photo by Izhar Khan/Getty Images)

Gavaskar infamously said Yashavi Jaiswal’s controversial dismissal at the MCG was an “optical illusion” and he called out the SCG pitch that produced a rapid fire Test that was over in less than three days.

Gavaskar said on the ABC: “Former (Australian and England cricketers are) all the time talking about Indian pitches and conditions. We are not moaners and we are not whingers.

“You’ll never find us complaining. But 15 wickets in a day in India, man there would be hell.

“We had Glenn McGrath saying he’d never seen so much grass. Did you hear any former India cricketer moan about the pitch?”

“When we go out and play cricket we will toughen it out. And if we are beaten, we are beaten. Overseas it’s very difficult to beat home teams. I did say that when we saw the pitch yesterday, the cows could have gone and grazed on it.

“This is not the ideal Test match pitch that you want because you want it to go into a fourth and fifth day. Unless there is rain I don’t see us being here on day four.”

Originally published as Cricket Australia respond as Sunil Gavaskar snubbed from trophy presentation