"Blaming Justin Langer for Australia's loss to India portrays players as brats," slams Sunil Gavaskar

Australian head coach Justin Langer was at the receiving end after their horrendous loss to India at home.

Justin Langer | Getty

Australia recently lost a home Test series to Team India and some reports emerged blaming head coach Justin Langer's behavior for the poor performance of the Aussie players. Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has slammed these 'leaks to media' as utter rubbish.

The 71-year-old is of the opinion that such leaks lead to the tarnishing of the image of Australian players. It reflects as if the players are brats who cannot accept the fact that they were outplayed at home and thus want to blame it on their coach.

Sunil Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day, "The leaks to the media about Langer actually reflects badly on the Australian team as it portrays them as brats who can’t accept they were outplayed and so need to shift the blame elsewhere."

"Stories planted in the media by the players or their agents or managers are making out that it was Langer’s intensity and passion that had the players under pressure and so affected their game.

This is utter rubbish as once the players are out on the field, the coach can do nothing and the players themselves have to find the answers to the questions asked by the opposition," he added.

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The stalwart also addressed the fact the Australians were wrong at opting to bat first in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Gavaskar feels that he who advised Australian captain Tim Paine to put India into bowl first on December 26 should be blamed for the incorrect decision.

"The one thing that they could possibly pin on the coach and the advisory group is the decision to bat first in the Melbourne Test match. Whether that was only the captain and senior players’ decision to bat first or whether it was one that the coach Langer encouraged Tim Paine to take is not known but apart from that possibility, the Australians have nobody else to blame than themselves," Gavaskar wrote.

 
 

By Sameer Deodhar - 07 Feb, 2021

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