The former left-handed Australian pace bowler, Mitchell Johnson, has accused the former captain of India and England, Sunil Gavaskar and Michael Vaughan, respectively, for criticizing the viral comment of Josh Hazlewood during the post-match press conference on the third day of the opening Test in Perth of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.
The New South Wales pacer was asked to comment on the team’s approach in their mammoth chase of 534 runs in the fourth innings, having found themselves at 12/3. The lanky pacer made the call of them, leaving the question to the batters and putting their entire focus on the second fixture in Adelaide.
That response promoted the Fox commentator and the former wicket-keeper of Australia, Adam Gilchrist, wondering if there was a divide in the side between the batting and bowling departments. Most of the other members of the panel accepted the view, but Mitchell Johnson has lashed out at the former Ashes-winning captain.
The Western Australian pacer remained Vaughan on the response similar to what Ricky Ponting received from the Indian head coach, Gautam Gambhir when the former Australia captain expressed his concern on the form of Virat Kohli at the start of the series.
Mitchell Johnson accuses Sunil Gavaskar and Michael Vaughan of comments on Australia
Mitchell Johnson advised the former opening batter to stick to paying attention and make comments only on England cricket and not Australia.
“Everyone has their say now, even people from countries not involved in the Test series they are commentating on such, as Michael Vaughan on Fox Cricket. We’ve got an ex-England captain here stirring the pot with his opinions on our Australian players and team ahead of the Ashes next summer.” The former left-arm pacer wrote in his column for 7news.com.au.
“While I understand Vaughan has plenty of experience and knowledge of the game, I don’t understand why he is commenting on the Australian players. His loyalty is with England, not Australia.” Mitchell Johnson shared his view.
Gavaskar didn’t make any comment on the press conference of Hazlewood but questioned the injury of the fast bowler, which pushed him to get ruled out of the pink-ball Test. The former opening batter predicted that the press remarks perhaps have shown its result.
The Queensland-born reckoned that the former Indian batter has just taken full advantage of the situation, with the tourists winning the first game in Perth by 295 runs, which has annoyed the Australian side ahead of the day-night Test match.
“Concerning Gavaskar and his commentary in general – I’ve enjoyed working with him in the past and learned a lot just sitting and listening to him talk about the game – his take this week is nothing more than a wind-up.” Mitchell Johnson highlighted.
Australia has lost just one pink-ball Test, the recent one at the Gabba in Brisbane at the start of the year against West Indies, but they are unbeaten in the D/N Tests at the Adelaide Oval.
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“Gavaskar is using his media platform to distract, disrupt, annoy, and take advantage of a comment Hazelwood made. That’s Gavaskar’s job, to make comments on what he sees, but it was done for no other reason than to get a reaction and aid India.” Mitchell Johnson penned down.
The pressure has highly been on the home side who has yet to win the BGT for about a decade, having lost both the last two Test series at home during the 2018/19 and 2020/21 summer.