Minutes after India's historic maiden Test series in Australia, head coach Ravi Shastri started a controversy by claiming that what the Virat Kohli-led side has achieved is bigger than the 1983 World Cup triumph under Kapil Dev in England.
In the post-match press conference, Shastri told the gathering at Sydney Cricket Ground, "I'll tell you how satisfying it is for me – (winning) World Cup '83, (winning) World Championship '85, this is as big or even bigger because this is in the truest format of the game, that's Test cricket which is meant to be the toughest."
Shastri's comments, however, failed to impress fans and pundits.
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And the prominent among them was Sunil Gavaskar, in his and Aussie great Allan Border's honours, the series was named. The legendary Indian opener reacted, "I think what he said was clearly about the Test format – this is the biggest victory as far as he is concerned; because he was a part of the '83 and '85 limited overs competition win".
"Those were 50-over format wins and this is a Test format win so, therefore, that's a big high for him – to be a part of it because he is the coach. I think that's why he was feeling so chuffed about it," said Gavaskar in one of the official broadcasters' studio.
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Then there are not so gentle reactions:
The final day of the fourth Test of the 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series was abandoned due to inclement weather, thus giving India a 2-1 win.
Then, there was a sly dig at Sachin Tendulkar, who is often hailed as the 'God of Cricket'. Here's what he said:
In the run-up to the series, many have said that this was India's best chance to win a series Down Under thanks to the absence of Steve Smith and David Warner, and also due to the declining fortunes of the Australian team.
The World Cup win in 1983 is still one of India's greatest sporting achievements, often rivalling those of hockey teams' Olympics triumphs. Symbolically, it liberated the Indian society from the clutches of the colonial hangover, but in purely sporting terms, it's unrivalled in every sense. It's also the raison d'etre of India's emergence as the cricketing superpower. Tendulkar or Kohli or Dhoni might not have picked up the bat had it not been for Kapil's Devils.
