Former Indian captain and legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar slammed Indian players after they suffered an embarrassing 1-3 series defeat at the hands of Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy held in 2024-25 and concluded on January 5 of this year. He is now ranting on the issue of ending star culture in Indian cricket. Gavaskar, becoming the first batter in the Test world to score 10,000 runs, expressed his fury on dismal performances by Indian players in angry terms during the Down Under tour and stated that players need to show their commitment toward the game.
“Next 8-10 days will be crucial to Indian cricket where it has to take a good and honest look at itself,” Gavaskar quoted by India Today said.”Most importantly, star culture has to end. Total commitment to Indian cricket is non-negotiable”.
The 75-year-old former opener feels that players should prove their availability for every series, and if someone is not committed to play, then he shouldn’t be in contention for selection.
“Players must make themselves available every single time unless there’s a genuine medical emergency. If someone isn’t fully committed, they shouldn’t be,” Gavaskar said.
“People can’t be partly here and partly elsewhere. It’s time to stop pampering anyone at all. Results are disappointing. We should not be here but in the World Test Championship final,” he added.
India was almost certain to qualify for the third consecutive ICC World Test Championship Finals due to be hosted by India after the two-match Test series at home against Bangladesh in the first week of October. Rohit Sharma’s men only managed to win one of the last eight Tests, thus putting an end to their hopes for winning another ICC trophy.
The failure to qualify for the WTC finals for the third consecutive time disgusted many fans and former players, and after India’s defeat in the first Test series against Australia post-2014-15, Gavaskar asked BCCI to put their feet down and be strict.
“The cricket board really needs to be very stringent against these players. He should bring in a full-time commitment-oriented model for Indian cricket: either Indian cricket or anything else, not both, or else selection will miss you,” he concluded.
