Former legendary Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar felt insulted by Cricket Australia’s conduct in ignoring him at the presentation ceremony of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) in Sydney.
The series for the test rivalry between the two nations was named after the two legends from these two countries, Sunil Gavaskar from India and Allan Border from Australia. Likely, during the beginning of the series, every time two of the great Indian and Australian player duos lead the trophy to the podium.
Gavaskar and Border shared a hand each, every time during the trophy presentation ceremony, whoever was the champion in the tournament. However, this time around, when Pat Cummins led a 3-1 win in the BGT, Allan Border was spotted handing the trophy to the winning skipper alone in the absence of the Indian maestro.
Supposedly, the Australian board decided beforehand that if Australia won the SCG test, then the Australian legend Border would single-handedly hand over the trophy to the home team. However, under conditions, if India can retain the BGT with a 2-2 series level, then Gavaskar would have the privilege of handing the trophy to India’s stand-in skipper, Jasprit Bumrah, alone.
The controversy developed when Gavaskar, despite his presence on the ground, was not called to the podium for the trophy presentation ceremony alongside the Australian legend Allan Border.
To this, Sunil Gavaskar reverted, saying, “I was told just before the Test that if India didn’t win or draw the series, I wouldn’t be required to give the BGT trophy. I’m not feeling sad, but I’m just feeling perplexed. It’s the Border-Gavaskar Trophy; both of us should’ve been there.”
After the displeased attitude portrayed by Gavaskar, fans unleashed their fury on Cricket Australia over the controversial call made.
Coming back to his senses, the Cricket Australia spokesperson claimed, “We acknowledge it would have been preferable if both Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar had been asked to go on stage.”
To the two greats, as claimed by Gavaskar, whoever wins the trophy doesn’t matter to them; what matters is that it should be both Border and Gavaskar in the presentation ceremony. There was no official statement issued by the legend Allan Border over this controversy.
