Sunil Gavaskar Not Invited by Cricket Australia for the Award Ceremony of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy

In a disrespectful move, Cricket Australia had let down the cricketing world by not inviting Sunil Gavaskar to present the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to the winning Captain, Pat Cummins. When the trophy itself was named after him and Allan Border. During the ceremony, Gavaskar was standing on the boundary line. 

Gavaskar expressed his displeasure on not being invited despite being present on the ground and being ignored by Cricket Australia.

"I certainly would have loved to have been there for the presentation. After all, it is the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and it is about Australia and India,”

“I mean, I am here on the ground. To me, it should not matter that Australia won when it comes to the presentation. They played better cricket so they won. That's fine.”

Gavaskar said that as an Indian, he would have been happy to share the stage with his friend Allan Border to present the trophy as it's a bilateral series between India and Australia.

“Just because I am an Indian. I would have been happy to present the trophy with my good friend Allan Border,”

What Cricket Australia Said

As per Cricket Australia sources, Gavaskar would have presented the trophy in case India had won the Sydney Test and drawn the series. As India had won the last series, they would have retained the trophy.

Later, Cricket Australia confirmed Gavaskar was aware that he would have presented the trophy to Jasprit Bumrah in the event India won the test match.

“We acknowledge it would have been preferable if both Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar had been asked to go on stage," a CA spokesperson said

The prestigious series is played between one of the toughest rivals in test cricket and held at an interval of 2 years, alternatively hosted by both nations. The series was started in 1996-97 and was named after Sunil Gavaskar and Allan Border. In the current series, Australia defeated India by 3-1, winning the Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney Test matches. India won the first test match at Perth, while the Brisbane Test match was drawn.

Cricket Australia Admits Their Mistake

Later in the evening, Cricket Australia admitted their mistake and said that it wasn't an ideal situation as Gavaskar was absent from the podium and doing the ceremony with just Alam Border. In a statement to the news agency, CA said

“We acknowledge it would have been preferable if both AB and Sunil had been asked to go on stage,"