Presenter James Brayshaw mistakenly introduced Gavaskar as Tendulkar.
When India’s first innings was coming to an end, Brayshaw was in the hosting chair for Channel 7 and he introduced fellow commentators Gavaskar and Damien Fleming. However, Brayshaw’s slip of tongue saw him welcoming Gavaskar as Tendulkar.
Here is a part of the exchange:
Brayshaw: “Sachin Tendulkar, welcome, and also Damien Fleming.”
Fleming: “Sachin Tendulkar’s in the commentary box?”
Brayshaw: “We were just talking …
Fleming: “[This is] the great man, the little master.”
Brayshaw: “My apologies Sunil, we were just talking about him a second ago.”
Gavaskar: “I am flattered, I am flattered to be called Sachin Tendulkar.”
Brayshaw: "We were just talking about him a second ago.”
Fleming added: “We share a birthday Sachin, the 24th of April”, to which Gavaskar quipped “not the same year though”.
Brayshaw: “Suni, we can share with the audience why we were talking about Sachin Tendulkar,” Brayshaw said. “I asked you, I said ‘Is he the most loved Indian cricketer of all time?’ There have been a few, yourself included.”
Gavaskar: “I think so. I think amongst the cricket followers, if you look at Dhoni, Kapil Dev, Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar they are all loved by millions and millions of not just Indians, but other nationalities as well. I would imagine in India it would be perhaps Sachin Tendulkar.”
Coming to the Test match, Australia had a dominating outing against India as they bundled out the visitors for 244 on Day 3 in Sydney, securing a handy first innings lead of 94 runs.
Right-arm pacer Pat Cummins was the wrecker-in-chief for the hosts, taking 4 wickets for 29 runs. Josh Hazlewood (2-43) and Mitchell Starc (1-61) also accounted for three wickets between them while Hanuma Vihari, R Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah got run out in India’s first innings.
Batting in the second innings, Australia lost David Warner (13) and Will Pucovski (10) cheaply but the duo of Marnus Labuschagne (47*) and Steve Smith (29*) added an unbroken 68-run stand for the third wicket to put the home team in a commanding position.
Australia eventually finished the third day on 103/2, extending their overall lead to 197 runs.
(Inputs from The Indian Express)