Manner of defeat should hurt Sachin Tendulkar & Co: Gavaskar

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar feels that the "manner of defeat" in England and Australia was more disappointing than the 0-8 scoreline. "It is the manner of defeat which has been disappointing. Look if the defeat would have been by a narrow margin, you would have felt that India were in the game. But save certain moments at the Lord's, Trent Bridge and Melbourne, India have never been in the game at all. The defeats have been very comprehensive which would certainly hurt the likes of Sachin Tendulkar," Gavaskar said today.

The legendary opener feels that senior players like Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Zaheer Khan would have been hurt more since they have experienced some enormous "highs" in their career.

"The likes of Sachin, VVS, Rahul, Zak have been around together for 10 years now and have enjoyed a lot of highs. So it would be more difficult for them to go through this phase," Gavaskar told NDTV.

Asked about five corrective measures that can be taken, he gave a sarcastic reply, "I can give you three and other two will fall in place. Bat well, bowl well and field well!"

On a serious note, he again urged BCCI to look at preparing sporting pitches for domestic matches and also that international players should play Ranji Trophy.

"I think we need pitches which are a bit more even for bowlers. Look at the Ranji Trophy final. Rajasthan got more than 300 run first innings lead but didn't go for an outright win. They batted again and that is where Indian cricket suffers where matches are decided on basis of first innings," Gavaskar said.

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