Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at Pakistani and Australian experts while talking about India’s ICC World Cup 2023 squad.
Gavaskar was irked by the remarks of former chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Management Committee, Najam Sethi, about India being afraid to play against Pakistan.
He also said that foreign experts should mind their own business when it comes to selection of the Indian national team.
"If you see the statements that come out from their side...sadly our media gives them the prominence. We have Pakistan players, and Australian players selecting Indian team. How is it their concern? Do any Indian players go and select the Australian or the Pakistan team? It's none of our business. But we allow that," Sunil Gavaskar said on Sports Today.
"From there it's always Babar is better than Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma; Shaheen Afridi is better than so and so. Inzamam-ul-haq is better than Sachin Tendulkar. For them, they are always better than us. That is the way they have to cater to their audience.
"Don't give them space in your papers. You have a South Africa saying a player should be in your team. You have an Australian saying. It happens too often. They say who should bat at no. 3 or no. 4. C'mon, we don't need your advice.”
India squad for ICC World Cup 2023:
Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj.
It must be noted that 10 teams will fight for the elusive title across 10 venues from October 5 to November 19, with the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad hosting the tournament opener and the final.
The day matches which will start at 10:00am Pakistan Standard Time (PST) while all other matches will be day-night fixtures starting at 01:30pm (PST).
The Cricket World Cup will be played in the round-robin format with all teams playing against each other for a total of 45 league matches.
The top four teams will qualify for the semifinals, which will be held in Mumbai on November 15 and in Kolkata on November 16. The semi-finals and the final will have reserve days.
- Sunil Gavaskar