ICC match referees biased against India, claims Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar

The India vs South Africa Test series is about to start and the former Indian captain, Sunil Gavaskar, has stirred up a controversy by claiming that the ICC match referees are biased and are harsher on Indian players.

In a newspaper column, the former India opener has openly blasted the ICC match referees and has said that the referees take out their anger on Indian players to get back to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Gavaskar wrote:

“There is a general belief that because the Indian players are rich and spoilt, they deserve to be put in their place and fining them won’t make much of a difference to their pockets.”

Gavaskar went on and cited example of this bias from the ongoing Ashes series, “In Australia, when two players collided, the match referee decided it was not deliberate and let them of. But, having seen the way players from the subcontinent, especially players from India are treated for exactly the same transgression, the different standards are clear.”

Gavaskar also defended Ishant Sharma who supposedly mocked at Quinton de Kock by calling him “lucky” to get his three consecutive ODI hundreds.

“If the same sort of opinion had been delivered by a South African or an Australian bowler about an Indian batsman, then it would have been called being combative, spirited and what not.”

The series has already has started on the wrong foot for India. First, they were given a cold reception after they landed in South Africa and then they were comprehensively beaten in the ODI series. It would be interesting to see if Gavaskar’s comments will add an extra needle in the upcoming Test series.