Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has lashed out at former England and Australia players for criticising the Indian T20 League for obstructing the cricketing calendar. The batting legend opined that both the cricketing powerhouses should focus on the cricketing activities in their respective countries and not interfere in the matters of Indian cricket.
The 74-year-old commented on the matter in response to a statement given by the former Australian wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist, who expressed his worries about the increasing ascendancy of the Indian T20 League in world cricket. Gilchrist had referred to the growth of the league as ‘little-big-dangerous’ as there are growing concerns about the Indian T20 League’s monopoly.
Gavaskar was surprised to see the reaction of the “old powers” as their concerns began after the Indian T20 League expanded its wings to the South African T20 League and the UAE T20 League.
“It’s been amusing to read that the Indian T20 League is once again seen as a disruptor of the cricketing calendar of other international teams. The moment the news about the South African T20 league and the UAE T20 league came out, the ‘old powers’ started squirming and got their apologists to have a go at the league. By all means, look after your cricket interests but hey, please don’t interfere in ours and tell us what to do,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
The former Indian captain further stated that even though the Big Bash League has got its own window free from international cricket, the Australian and English boards fear that some of their players will choose the South African and UAE’s ILT20 League which starts around the same time and are offering much more lucrative deals to their players.
“The Australians, too, have scheduled their Big Bash when their contracted players will be available to play. But it’s worrying them that the UAE and the South African T20 leagues are scheduled around the same time, and there’s the danger of some of their players opting to play there instead of the Big Bash,” Gavaskar added.
