Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar is unhappy with the way Indian fans are singled out for their partisan behaviour. Citing the example of the ongoing Ashes 2023 and Wimbledon Championships, Gavaskar claimed the English fans cheer wildly when their own teams’ players are dominating but offer ‘perfunctory applause’ when it’s the opponent who is winning.
The former India captain has no qualms over home fans and media giving preferential treatment to their own players.
“The All England Tennis Championships at Wimbledon have also started and as always, the TV coverage as well as the media reports are mainly about the English players. This is totally understandable as the tournament is in England.
The crowd too applauding raucously every winner by the English player is also perfectly understood,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for the mid-day.
However, Gavaskar, the first cricketer to reach 10,000 runs in Test cricket, has pointed out how overseas commentators express their displeasure at the behaviour of Indian fans who go ‘quiet’ when one of their own ends up getting out or conceding a boundary.
“What bugs is the condescending way overseas commentators, when they come to India, keep saying how quiet the Indian crowd at the ground is when an Indian batter gets out or when an Indian bowler is hit for a boundary. This is not an Indian phenomena, but happens in every country where home crowds keep silent when a boundary is hit against their bowlers or their batters get out,” he wrote.
In the ongoing Ashes 2023, Australian players were subject to loud boos by the home fans following Jonny Bairstow’s dismissal during the Lord’s Test last week which led to ‘spirit of cricket’ debate.
Even though the dismissal was perfectly within the law, England captain Ben Stokes and few of his teammates maintained Australia were wrong in not withdrawing their appeal and claiming they would have acted differently than their opponents.
“Nowhere has it been more apparent than at the current Ashes series as also at Wimbledon where every point won by a Brit is cheered wildly while a point won by another gets a perfunctory applause from a few of his/her countrymen at the court,” Gavaskar wrote.
“It’s only natural that the crowds will support their own team and won’t cheer the opponents, but to suggest that it happens only in India is ridiculous,” he added
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