Legendary India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has blasted Australian media for trying to build pressure and scare the Indian team in the ongoing BGT 2024 Test series. His words came after India defeated Australia by 295 runs in the first Test in Perth.

Gavaskar underlined the psychological impact that the Australian media exerts on visiting teams. India leads the five-match Test series against Australia 1-0 as they look for their third consecutive series victory on Australian soil.

"All the boasts about how the pitch is going to be pacy and bouncy and scare the living daylights out of the Indian batters were exactly that - the boasts of a bully. Mind you, it wasn't the Aussie players but their support staff in the media, both electronic and print, who were trying to be scaremongers," Gavaskar wrote in a column for Sportstar.  

Gavaskar praised the Indian batters for exceeding the hosts, who won the match despite facing a 150-all-out in the opening innings. After failing with the bat in the first innings, the bowlers came in and dismissed Australia for 104. The Indians overcame the fast and bouncy conditions to score 487/6d.

Gavaskar recalled how the Australian media played similar mind games ahead of Perth Test in 2008.

"It was very similar to 2007/8 after the kerfuffle between Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds in the Sydney Test match. The Australian selectors had added Shaun Tait to the Aussie squad for the next Test match in Perth, and the media were going nuts, suggesting he was going to blow the Indians away on the fast, bouncy WACA pitch in Perth," wrote Gavaskar.

The 2008 win at Perth was India's first-ever win at WACA as they registered a 72-run win. In 2024, India broke Australia's unbeaten streak of 4 Tests at the Optus Stadium in Perth.