4 most brutal reactions from former cricketers to India's 3-1 Test series defeat in BGT 2024-25 ft. Harbhajan Singh

Australia beat India by six wickets in the final Test of the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday, January 5. The hosts, set a target of 162, chased the runs down after losing just four wickets to win the series with a 3-1 scoreline.

The visitors, quite naturally, faced a lot of backlash for their poor performance. In this listicle, we take a look at the four most brutal reactions from former cricketers to India's defeat:

#1 Sunil Gavaskar

The legendary Sunil Gavaskar was among the former cricketers who were miffed at India's poor showing in the series. With the trophy named after him and his Australian counterpart Allan Border, Gavaskar was disappointed beyond measure at the lack of spine shown by the Indian side.

Speaking to the broadcaster Star Sports in the post-match show in Sydney, Gavaskar lashed out at everyone concerned and sarcastically ended his tirade.

"Arey humko kya maloom cricket ka. Hume cricket aati nahi hai. Hum sirf aise hi television pe baat karte rehte hai. Humari kaun sunega? Irfan (Pathan), hum log aise hi baat karte hai TV ke liye. Actually, humari baat sunne ka koi matlab nahi banta. Abhi bhi jo maine kaha hai, upar se jaane dijiye. Koi problem nahi hai. Idhar se aane dijiye, idhar se bahar nikal dijiye. (What do we know about cricket? We don't know cricket. We just talk on the television. Who will listen to us? Irfan and I just talk on TV. Actually, there is not point listening to us. What I have said just now will go over the head. No problem. Let it enter from here and exit from here)," he said.

#2 Harbhajan Singh

Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh, speaking on his YouTube channel, lashed out at the selections made by the Indian team management to strengthen their batting. Harbhajan felt that every selection should have been based on performance, even when it came to seniors Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

"The selection should be based on the performance, whether Virat or Rohit. No player is bigger than the game, even if they think they are superstars in their minds. If you want to take senior players on tour, you have to make sure they play county cricket before the England series," said Harbhajan.

"How was selection done? Was there any point in playing two spinners in Sydney on this pitch where they didn't even bowl? So, to extend your batting, you added spinners because they can bat. But you didn't see if there was another good seamer, things could have been better. They are stuck to stubbornness. This is not the T20 format. Test cricket is played differently," he added.

Harbhajan also felt that the series would have ended 0-4 or 0-5 in Australia's favour had Jasprit Bumrah not been in the Indian side. The pacer picked up 32 wickets and ended up as the Player of the Series.

"If Jasprit Bumrah wasn't in this tour, the series would have ended 5-0. Jassi saved India in Perth. After Adelaide, he saved India in the rest of the matches. If he wasn't in the series, India would have lost by either 5-0 or 4-0," he concluded.

#3 Kerry O'Keeffe

Former Australia cricketer Kerry O'Keeffe mentioned that Australia tried to intimidate the opposition skipper and bring the rest of the team down with him, and that this tactic was successful with Rohit Sharma.

Speaking to foxcricket.com.au, O'Keeffe stated that Australia have made it a habit to go hard at their opposition skipper, and with Sharma, the tactic succeeded so much that the latter had to withdraw from the final Test of the series.

“They couldn’t get Ajinkya Rahane the last time and he won the series. But if you look at the captains they’ve brought down in recent times, Sharma. Tick. Shan Masood with Pakistan. It was three-nil. Kraigg Brathwaite, it was one-all, but they were on top of Kraigg. They went to New Zealand and brought down Tim Southee, winning two-nil,” O’Keeffe said.

"They couldn’t bring down Bumrah. He was too good. But then the baton was passed to Rohit Sharma and they brought him down straight away, to the extent that he withdrew from the final Test. So that’s a tactic they seem to want to do if they can, if they can break the skipper and make him anonymous, it empowers them,” he added.

"Sharma, meanwhile, arrived midway through the Perth Test as a doting dad once again. The smile on his face after he returned from a net session as India dominated in the middle of Optus Stadium was one of a man content with his place in the world. It did not last long. Sharma departs Australia out of the team after making 31 runs in three Tests at an average of 6.2. It is the lowest on record for an opposing skipper, and that includes bowling captains including West Indian Courtney Walsh," he continued.

#4 Mohammad Kaif

Former India batter Mohammad Kaif, renowned for his electric fielding skills, tore into the Indian team for being 'white ball bullies' and the management for not giving enough importance to Test cricket. He mentioned that if the players do not play domestic cricket or practice matches, they will not improve.

Kaif also felt that India would go on to beat Pakistan in the high-octane ICC Champions Trophy clash on 23 February and earn plaudits. However, according to him, that would be a false dawn given how poor the team has been in red-ball cricket of late. Kaif felt that the team needed a wake-up call.

"23 tareekh ko Pakistan ko hara kar saari waah waahi aap loot loge (After beating Pakistan February 23, you guys will take all the credit). Everyone will says that we are a champions side in the white-ball. But if India want to win the World Test Championship (WTC), we need to build a strong Test side. We have to learn how to play on turning tracks, in Australia we will have to learn to play on seaming conditions. The truth is that we are just white-ball bullies," said Kaif.

"We are lagging too far behind. If we have to win WTC, then players will have to give importance to domestic cricket. They need to play on the turning tracks, they will have to practice on the seaming tracks, otherwise, we will not be able to win. It’s not just Gautam Gambhir, who is at fault. All players are equally to blame for this," he added.

“All players get the chance to play in the Ranji Trophy, but it gets tiresome for the players and they prefer to skip it. If they don’t play Ranji Trophy, they don’t play practice matches then how will they become better players? And WTC will keep eluding you,” Kaif continued.