Dilip Vengsarkar Slams Matthew Hayden For Gautam Gambhir Jibe: ‘Hypocrisy of Aussies Will Be Exposed’

Ex-India captain Dilip Vengsarkar was not about to hide his feelings to the comments of Matthew Hayden of Gautam Gambhir confronting curator of Oval before 5 th Test. The animated argument took place into the practice ground where Gambhir, who was there in the capacity of India head coach, argued with a curator Lee Fortis.

Strong Support for Gambhir’s Stand on Pitch Access

Pictures of Gambhir tirelessly passing his finger at Fortis saying, You are not asking any of us what to do. You have no authority whatever to say so, you are only a groundsman, that is all.” Hayden commented on the match after the match on the show All Over Bar The Cricket saying that the curator was defending his patch but also believed that Gambhir could have rather articulated himself better.

“This is a typical case in England. It is a bit of a flex, here we are, final Test match, this is my venue, and they are going to try and make it difficult on Gautam Gambhir. But I think he’s got every right to tone it down. He could have used better language. But the reality is, his team is trying to train ahead of the most important Test match,” Hayden said.

Vengsarkar Criticises Pitch Restrictions Faced by Indian Team in England

But Vengsarkar firmly backed Gambhir and lamented on the fact that curator refused to show close examination of the pitch. When he talked to Mumbai Mirror he pointed out that visiting teams in India are never subjected to that constraint when evaluating the playing surface.

Gambhir being the head coach of the Indian team was justified to look at the field at close range. When teams visit India, it is not only the team captain and coach that goes through the pitch. Their media scouts even the pitch before game time. None of them is told anything. Well, when we are playing in England, how are the rules different?” Vengsarkar questioned.

Negating Point of View of Hayden regarding Reaction of Australian Players

Vengsarka was also throwing the gauntlet to Hayden and he asked what Australian cricketers would have done had they been given the same treatment. He pushed the point that Australian team would have strongly resisted such treatment.

Do you think Hayden, or any one of the Australian cricketers, would have taken very kindly to a question inside the curator asking them not to come anywhere near the square before an big match game? Had this occurred to the Aussies they would have applied the best language to tell the curator where to put himself in place,” he said.

This exchange reveals the underlying tension and attitude of contrast in provision of access and authority of pitch in case of international cricket tours particularly, when teams encounter unknown and restrictive conditions.

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