The concluding bit of our two-part series on controversies surrounding Sunil Gavaskar before the latest Kochi Gochi
The concluding bit of our two-part series on controversies surrounding Sunil Gavaskar before the latest Kochi Gochi In 2007, while describing the aggressive nature of Australian cricketers, Gavaskar hurt their sentiments when he uttered: "There's the example of the late David Hookes. Would they get away with it? Would they have a fist coming at their face or not?" The batting great was suggesting that the Aussie players might get physically attacked if they used similar language in a bar as they use on the field. Hookes, the former Australia left-handed batsman lost his life after being assaulted by a 'bouncer' outside a suburban Melbourne hotel. Hookes, then coach of Victoria, had been to the bar to celebrate a team victory.
Border furious
Allan Border was livid over Gavaskar's reference to Hookes. "I consider Sunny a friend, but what he said about David Hookes and the behaviour of Australian cricketers was totally uncalled for. What Sunny said on television was totally inappropriate," he said.
However, Gavaskar apologised by saying, " I do regret it ... on the breakfast show I do with ESPN, I read out a statement regretting what I had said. On live television and radio, sometimes you respond on the spur of the moment with a remark that can cause hurt and pain to others," Gavaskar told Melbourne radio station SEN.
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At the height of Sydneygate - the name given to the India vs Australia 2008 Sydney Test controversy - Sunil Gavaskar wrote a spicy column where he slammed the umpires (Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson) as well as the match referee Mike Proctor. Harbhajan Singh was accused of calling Aussie all-rounder Andrew Symonds a monkey.
"By accepting the word of the Australian players and not the Indian players, the match referee has exposed himself to the charge of taking a decision based not on facts, but on emotion," wrote Gavaskar. He added: "Millions of Indians want to know if it was a 'white man' taking the 'white man's' word against that of the 'brown man'.
Quite simply if there was no audio evidence nor did the officials hear anything then the charge did not stand."
Gavaskar's comments during the Sydneygate controversy threw up another controversy. The Aussie media and then ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed felt that Gavaskar cannot continue as head of the game's apex body's Cricket Committee as well and live up to his media commitments at the same time. In short, he had to choose one. In May 2008, the ICC announced that he had quit as the committee's chairman.
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Gavaskaru00a0 in 2009 slammed Kolkata Knight Riders' coach Buchanan for roping in his Queensland men to form the support staff of the Indian Premier League team.
"To comment on his (Buchanan's) multiple skipper theory is to give it the importance it doesn't deserve but what does require comment is how he has got his Queensland pals lucrative jobs with KKR.
"They have a very big support staff which includes his son and most of them are from Queensland. The owners ufffd poor souls ufffd have little idea that they are being milked," Gavaskar wrote.
KKR owner Shah Rukh Khan, who didn't seem impressed, said: "I have spent lot of money on my team. If you have a problem then you buy your own team and run it the way you want."
Click here to read first part of Sunil Gavaskar's controversies prior to Kochi, Part 1
