Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar has made a befitting statement towards former England captain Nasser Hussain, who criticized India and the International Cricket Council (ICC) for their acrimonious clash with Bangladesh. Gavaskar gently reminded Hussain of the performance of the England cricket team a few years ago.

Gavaskar, in his column in Sportstar, talks about the England team for a number of reasons. The cricketing superstar took note of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s immense talent and took a dig at the England team.

Sunil Gavaskar praises Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

14-year-old top-order batsman Vaibhav Sooryavanshi smashed a staggering 175 off 80 balls, his highest individual score in the U19 World Cup final, as India posted 411 runs to regain the title with a crushing 100-run victory. There is no doubt that the young prodigy played a major role behind India U-19 team’s victory in the summit.

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Gavaskar wrote in his column: “In the just-concluded ICC Under-19 World Cup final, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi single-handedly took the game away from the opponents by smashing 175 off just 80 balls against England. To their credit, England responded well and responded with 311 runs to the Indian colts’ 411.”

Nasser Hussain blames India, ICC

But the focus of Gavaskar’s column was his take on Nasser Hussain’s comments on the BCCI’s stand-off with Bangladesh. The former England cricketer feels that the International Cricket Federation might not have been able to take the final decision so quickly if it had been India in place of Bangladesh. The ICC has removed the Bangladesh cricket team from the tournament as the country does not want to travel to India for the 2026 T20 World Cup.

“If India said a month before the tournament, ‘Our government doesn’t want us to play in a certain country for the World Cup’, would the International Cricket Federation be so adamant and say, ‘You know the rules, bad luck, we’re going to knock you out?'” Hussain raised the issue on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.

“The only thing all parties demand is consistency. Bangladesh, Pakistan and India must be treated equally. Yes, Indian fans may say, ‘Cry again, we have money!’ But with power comes responsibility,” he further added.

Gavaskar silences former England captain

In his reply, Gavaskar referred to an incident at the 2003 World Cup when the England cricket team refused to travel to Zimbabwe, not because of security concerns but because of political reasons. The ICC subsequently approved England Cricket’s request.

“England refused to play in Zimbabwe at the 2003 World Cup, perhaps because they didn’t like the look on then president Robert Mugabe’s face when he announced his policy. There was no security threat, but they cost themselves points. Did the ICC do anything? No, because at that stage the England and Australian boards were dominant and others didn’t want to piss them off,” writes Sunil Gavaskar.

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