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Sunil Gavaskar wants the chatter around the highly anticipated Test series between India and Australia to be halted for now.
Sunil Gavaskar says India will find a way to succeed in Australia. (PTI Photo)
Plenty of Australian cricketers, current and former, have had their say on their upcoming home Test series against India. Plenty of former Indian cricketers have given their verdict on the potential outcome of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. However, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar wants the chatter to end for now as he wants a complete focus on the current series between India and New Zealand.
During the final session’s play on Day 2 of the second Test between India and New Zealand in Pune, commentator Dinesh Karthik touched upon the upcoming tour of Australia but Gavaskar quickly responded by asking him to not make the “mistake”.
“Don’t talk about Australia now,” Gavaskar said while on air. “That’s a mistake a lot of people make too often. You’ve got to worry about what’s happening now. Your focus should be only on what’s happening at the moment. Australia will take care of itself. You will find the methods to beat Australia.”
Gavaskar said while the players are focused on the current series, it’s the media that is hyping up the BGT.
“It’s not the players. The players are focussed on the game. It’s the circle around which is the media and everybody else which is talking about Australia. There is so much of coverage about what is going to happen in Australia,” he said.
Gavaskar’s comments came as India endured a forgettable day of Test cricket against New Zealand as they were outplayed across departments. India were bundled out on 156 in their first innings with Mitchell Santner taking seven wickets. The tourists then added 198/5 to extend their lead to 301 runs at the close of play on Day 2.
India are trailing 0-1 in the three-match series having lost the Bengaluru Test – their first defeat at home to New Zealand in the format since 1988. The Tom Latham-led side is now inching closer to creating history unless the home team pulls off something remarkable in the fourth innings.
