The Ben Stokes-led England side arrived in Australia with a lot of expectations, but ended up conceding the Ashes urn in just 11 days -- the joint-second quickest in more than a century.
The Three Lions suffered back-to-back eight-wicket losses in Perth and Brisbane, before facing an 82-run defeat at the Adelaide Oval.
The visitors salvaged some pride with a gutsy four-wicket victory at MCG, but their batters continue to draw criticism for their underwhelming display in the series so far.
In his latest column for Mid-Day, Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar reflected on England’s Ashes debacle Down Under, emphasizing the value of Test centuries.
Gavaskar also recalled a moment from India’s 2025 tour of England in Manchester, where Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar rejected Stokes' proposal to settle for a draw and chose to complete their centuries instead.
“All those English players who mocked Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar when they opted to bat on and get their centuries and not accept the offer to go off the field will have realised that Test centuries don’t come every day,” wrote Gavaskar.
“Both the Indian batters had battled their way to their individual 80s and frustrated the bowlers, and with another Test to go, were doing the tactical thing in keeping the fielders in the sun for some more time and were perfectly entitled to do so,” he further stated.
Shifting his focus to the ongoing Ashes series, Gavaskar mentioned that the same English players who mocked Jadeja and Sundar’s decision to bat on last year must have realized on this tour that runs are not easy and batting can shrink to edges and gaps when a batter is not in form.
“Those who derided and mocked them then for batting on are finding in Australia that their bats have only edges or holes in the middle,” Gavaskar remarked.
“Cricket is a great leveller, and anybody who shows arrogance as different from confidence gets to learn that very quickly,” he concluded.
The five-match Ashes series currently stands at 3-1. The fifth and final Test kicked off on Sunday (January 4) at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
