SYDNEY: Sunil Gavaskar knows what it feels like to be saddled with a dubious distinction and the batting great offered comforting words to India’s team after they registered a record low total in the day-night Test against Australia on Saturday.

India’s previous lowest innings total was 42, register­­ed during a 1974 Test match against England at Lord’s.

Gavaskar — who was part of that 1974 side — did not find any fault with Kohli and his men and simply attributed the collapse to a fiery rival attack, just like 46 years ago.

“Taking nothing away from the Australian bowling, they were absolutely superb today, there was nothing wrong with the Indian effort today,” Gavaskar told Channel 7.

“In the same way as in 1974, overcast conditions at Lord’s with the ball swinging around, none of us got out playing bad shots, we were all trapped lbw or caught behind,” recalled the former opener. “When you face bowling of that quality, with that line and length, it’s very difficult to score runs and that’s what happened to the Indians today.”

England won the 1974 Test by an innings and 285 runs after Geoff Arnold and Chris Old ran through India’s batting lineup sharing nine wickets between them.

“I have to say, but for that classy five I got, they would never have reached 42,” Gavaskar quipped.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2020