'Ridiculous': Sunil Gavaskar comes down heavily on English commentators' home crowd remark

Ashes 2023: Ben Stokes and Co. have a lot to work for as they are already 2-0 down in the five-match Ashes 2023 series against Australia. The hosts lost to the Aussies by two wickets and 43 runs respectively in the first and the second Test. If the visitors are able to win the third Test at Headingley they will retain the Ashes for the fourth consecutive time. The English cricket team on the other end will also aim to regain the coveted 'urn' after a gap of eight years. 

3 things you need to know 

• Australia are currently 2-0 up in the series
• Australia ended their second innings of the third Ashes 2023 Test at 224 runs 
• Australia are the defending champions of the Ashes 

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Sunil Gavaskar hits out at the English commentators 

Former Team India batsman Sunil Gavaskar has hit back at the English commentators amidst the Ashes 2023 series for critisising the Indian fans over favoritism to cheer their own team. While writing about the issue in his column of 'The Mid Day', Gavaskar opined that it is natural that in their home country, the crowd would support their own team and not cheer for the opponent. 

Sunil Gavaskar while celebrating 50th anniversary of his Test debut (Image: BCCI) 

'This is not an Indian phenomenon': Sunil Gavaskar 

It is natural that the crowd will support their own team and not cheer the opponents, but to suggest that this happens only in India is ridiculous. This is not an Indian phenomenon, but it happens in every country where the home crowd remains silent when their bowlers are hit for a boundary or their batsmen get out.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the current Ashes series. What a condescending way, foreign commentators, when they come to India, keep saying how quiet the Indian crowd on the ground goes when an Indian batsman gets out or when an Indian bowler hits a boundary.

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The English cricket team has not performed well in the current Ashes 2023 series, however, there have been instances in the first two Test matches wherein the English crowd can be seen supporting their team when they have performed well. On the other hand, the English commentators as well have put England as favourites to win the current Ashes against Australia despite being 2-0 down in the five-match series.