‘How have you tried to improve the batter?’ – Sunil Gavaskar reveals how players don’t turn up to him for technical insights

Sunil Gavaskar. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar shared his thoughts on Indian batters’ dismissals in the World Test Championship (WTC) Final. The Indian team lost two consecutive WTC Finals in 2021 and 2023 against New Zealand and Australia, respectively. In the loss, the Indian batting team failed to compete against the quality pacers on the seaming pitches of England.

The star Indian batting lineup’s constant failure on the big stage is frustrating, but the ex-Indian opener is shocked as no present Indian batter has come to him for insights. The veteran batter is positioned after Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar for the most Test runs scored by an Indian.

“If the batters are making the same mistakes over and over again, you need to ask what has happened with your technique. How have you tried to improve the batter? Have you tried to tell him, maybe take a different guard? Don’t take a leg-stump guard, take a middle and off-stump guard,” said Gavaskar to the Indian Express.

Sunil Gavaskar shared an interesting anecdote about Virender Sehwag-

“I remember once calling Virender Sehwag out of the blue. He had not been scoring too many runs. I told him, ‘Viru, just try the off-stump guard’. So he asked, ‘Why, Sunny bhai?’ So I told him, ‘Look, you aren’t known for great footwork,” he further added.

“What is happening is, sometimes when you are getting out, you are reaching out for the delivery and it makes things difficult for you. So, maybe if you take the off-stump guard, you straight away know that the ball is outside the off-stump’,” concluded the ex-Indian opener.

Indian batters have really struggled against quality pacers in overseas conditions, and the drought of the ICC title since 2013 is credited to their non-performance in high-pressure games. Veteran Indian batters like Gavaskar, who has 35 Test hundreds and over 10,000 runs, can surely guide the players to improve their batting. It is observed that star Indian batters nowadays shy away from reaching out to senior cricketers for taking their insights about techniques.

In the 2023 WTC Final, the Indian batting lineup was not able to cross the 300-run mark in the first innings, and only with Ajinkya Rahane’s valuable 89 in the first innings, they scored the 296-run mark. Eventually, the Rohit Sharma-led side lost the game by 209 runs as the Aussies were able to post a total of 469 runs in their first innings.