Sunil Gavaskar hits back at Nasser Hussain; claims ‘nice’ doesn’t equate to ‘weak’
Sunil Gavaskar has hit back at former English skipper Nasser Hussain for suggesting that the Indian cricket team were not ‘tough’ until Sourav Ganguly took over the reins. Gavaskar asserted that nice doesn’t equate to weak and added that the 80s Indian side showed their toughness through results.
One of the greatest cricketers of all time, Sunil Gavaskar was quite the aggressive personality and a rebel during his playing days and there could be no better testament to it than the infamous ‘walking off’ incident versus Australia, where he took his partner Chetan Chauhan and stormed off the field after he was adjudged LBW by umpire Rex Whitehead at the MCG in 1981.
In his career as an expert analyst and commentator, too, Gavaskar has turned out to be an extremely outspoken and honest individual who gives brutal assessments and thus, staying true to the reputation, the 71-year-old left no stone unturned in hitting back at Nasser Hussain.
In an extremely angry rant, the former Indian skipper ripped into Hussain after the latter suggested that Indian sides in the pre-Ganguly era were not as ‘tough’ as the ones that played during and after the Bengal lad took over the reins.
"Nasser (Hussain) went on to say that earlier the team would be wishing the opposition good morning and smiling at them etc. See this perception: That if you are nice then you are weak. That unless you are in the face of the opposition, you are not tough," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day, reported Times Now.
"Is he suggesting that Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh to name just a few were not tough? That just because they went about their business without any chest-thumping, swearing, screaming and pumping their arms in obscene gestures, they were weak?"
Gavaskar labelled Hussain’s claims as ‘nonsense’ and added that the Indian sides of the 80s proved their toughness by winning games of cricket.
"And what does he know of the toughness of the teams in the seventies and eighties, which won overseas as well as at home to make that statement? Yes, Ganguly was a top captain, taking over the reins at a most delicate time in Indian cricket, but to say that earlier teams were not tough is nonsense.
"It's about time the TV guys stopped using head-nodders when aspersions are cast on our cricket history and use people who will stand up and counter this bullying which actually consolidates the perception that we are too nice and therefore not tough."
Hussain’s comments came on Star Sport’s Cricket Connected show where, whilst praising Ganguly, the former English skipper suggested that his impression of the Indian sides prior to the 2000s was them being an extremely soft, polite and nice side that came off as ‘not too tough’.
"I have always said, and this is a generalisation, but I have always said about Ganguly, that he made India a tougher side. So, before Ganguly, there were very talented side, but you felt they were also a nice side - very down to earth, would meet you with morning greetings, morning Nasser, it was a very pleasant experience.
"Playing against a Ganguly side, you knew you were in a battle, you knew that Ganguly understood the passion of Indian cricket fans and it wasn't just a game of cricket. It was more important than a game of cricket,” the former English skipper had said.
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