Foot-Licking Of The Highest Quality: Gavaskar Slams Praise For Gambhir; Claims 'Credit Due Solely To Rohit'

Sunil Gavaskar was unhappy at Gautam Gambhir being praised for India's win |Courtesy-AP/IANS

KEY HIGHLIGHTS Sunil Gavaskar lavished praise on Rohit Sharma

Gavaskar was unhappy at Gautam Gambhir being credited

India beat Bangladesh in the Kanpur Test

While the Indian cricket team was praised from all corners of the world for their incredible victory against Bangladesh in the Kanpur Test, Sunil Gavaskar was not pleased with head coach Gautam Gambhir getting the praise and stated that Rohit Sharma is the reason behind India's fearless approach.

For those uninitiated, two and a half days of play in the second Test were lost due to rain, and the game seemed headed for a dull draw, which would have come as a costly blow to India's chances of making the 2023-25 World Test Championship (WTC) final.

After a brilliant display by the bowling unit, the Indian batters produced a show for the ages. The Rohit-led team hit 285 runs in just 34.4 overs, which was the first instance of a team batting at a run rate above eight in Test cricket while scoring more than 100 runs. The hosts also set the world record for the fastest team at 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250.

Sunil Gavaskar Calls Praise For Gautam Gambhir 'Foot-Licking'

After India's style of play was termed 'Gamball' and also endorsed by star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, Gavaskar was unhappy at Gambhir getting the credit. The Indian cricket legend pointed out that the head coach took charge just a couple of months ago, while Rohit has been playing this way for a few years. Gavaskar coined a new term for India's aggressive brand of cricket.

“While one paper called the Indian batting “Bossball” because the captain or “boss” of the team, Rohit, had shown the way, some from the old powers referred to it as “Gamball” after the Indian coach, Gautam Gambhir. While the England batting approach changed completely under the new regime of Ben Stokes and McCullum, we have seen over the last couple of years that Rohit has been batting like this and encouraging his team to do so as well.

“Gambhir has only been coaching for a couple of months, so attributing this approach to him is foot-licking of the highest quality. Gambhir himself hardly ever batted in this fashion like McCullum used to do. If any credit is due, it is solely to Rohit and nobody else," Gavaskar wrote in a column for Sportstar.

“Instead of using the words this-ball or that-ball, I would suggest using the skipper’s first name, Rohit, and term it the “Gohit” approach. Hopefully, brainier people will come up with a trendier name for this rather than the lazy option of calling it after “Bazball," Gavaskar added.

Despite Yashasvi Jaiswal hitting three boundaries in the first over and scoring a half-century, Gavaskar claimed Rohit's knock of 23 in 11 balls, which included two sixes in the first two balls, was the reason behind India gaining momentum.

“The first two deliveries he (Rohit) faced were smashed for sixes, and the innings gained momentum at breakneck speed from thereon. To be fair, young Yashasvi Jaiswal also hammered three boundaries in the very first over of the innings, but those could be described as risk-free punches.”

“The skipper, on the other hand, took a risk as he advanced down the pitch to the very first delivery he faced, smiting it over long-on for a mighty six. When the bowler shortened his length for the next delivery, it was pulled over square leg for another maximum. This completely threw the Bangladesh bowlers off, and the others that followed just didn’t know where to bowl,” Gavaskar further wrote.

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