Sunil Gavaskar Bashes the Indian Openers for Their Poor Techniques

Legendary Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar has bashed out on the Indian opening batsman for their display of faulty techniques in the day 1 of the ongoing first test match against India Vs Australia. Gavaskar was not seen happy with opening pair selection of Mayank Agarwal Prithvi Shaw.

Things got worse when India lost its first wicket on the second ball itself in form of Prithvi Shaw who was bowled by left-arm speedster Mitchell Starc for a duck as the batsman inside-edged one onto the stumps.

Then came the ever dependable Cheteshwar Pujara who, along with Mayank Agarwal weathered the storm for a short while before Pat Cummins came up with a brilliant delivery that rearranged Mayank Agarwal’s stumps. Cummins broke Mayank’s 39-ball stay in the 19th over as the right-handed batsman was sent to the pavilion for 17.

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Sunil Gavaskar Devastated by Prithvi Shaw’s Technique

The legend thought that it was very unthoughtful of Shaw to have exposed a gap that big between the bat and the pad at the international level against some of the best bowlers in the world.

He also thought that Shaw should have played with soft hands as it was only the second delivery of the game.

“Even today, have a look at where his bat ends. There is such a big gap between bat and pad. Just the second delivery of the game and you want to make sure that you are playing with soft hands. You are playing as late as possible. The whole idea in Test match cricket is that you don’t go there. Then you are leaving that much of a gap between bat and pad, allowing for any late movement, either to get an inside edge or snick between bat and pad,” Sunil Gavaskar said to India Today.

“The trick is to try and play as close to the pads as possible, which means your bat speed has to be minimal at the start of the innings. As you grow in confidence, yes then you go and play your shots. But at the start when you are not even off the mark, you want to try and reduce your bat speed. Don’t leave any gap between bat and pad,” the 71-year old asserted.