Sunil Gavaskar left ‘perplexed’ by bizarre snub as Australia secure huge series victory against India to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar trophy

Indian cricket great Sunil Gavaskar was left stunned by a bizarre decision to leave him out of Australia’s trophy presentation after Pat Cummins’ side defeated India 3-1 in this summer’s Test series.

Curiously, Gavaskar, whose name is even on the trophy, was not involved in the presentation at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday afternoon.

While Australia completed a six-wicket victory, Gavaskar instead stood 150 yards away from the trophy presentation.

Allan Border was due to take the stage to present Cummins with the huge gold trophy, but Gavaskar was not present.

“I certainly would have liked to have been there for the presentation,” the India cricketer, who has scored 10,122 Test runs, told The Daily Telegraph.

Gavaskar later made an interesting claim that if India did not win or draw the series, he would not be needed.

Allan Border (right) presented the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Pat Cummins (left) on Sunday afternoon after Australia claimed a 3-1 win in the series

Gavaskar (right) said he ‘would have liked to present the trophy’ alongside Border (left)

“Just before the test started, I was told this would be the situation,” he said ABC Sports.

“If India didn’t win or draw the series, I wouldn’t be needed… I’m not sad, I just feel a bit perplexed. It’s the Border-Gavaskar trophy, we both should have been there.”

Gavaskar later added to The Daily Telegraph that “it doesn’t matter to me that Australia won when it comes to presentation.”

He admitted that the Cummins side had played the ‘better cricket’ throughout the series and added: ‘I would have been happy to present the trophy with my good friend Allan Border’.

A Cricket Australia spokesperson claimed that the plan was for Border to present the trophy if Australia had won the title and that Gavaskar would do the same honor if India had retained the title.

However, Cricket Australia appeared to reconsider the decision not to have Gavaskar present the award alongside Border.

“We recognize that it would have been preferable if both AB and Sunil had been asked to take the stage,” a Cricket Australia spokesperson said.

After their ball-in-hand heroics in Melbourne, Australia’s bowlers impressed again in Sydney, bowling India out for 157 in their second innings.

Gavaskar had handed over the trophy to Rohit Sharma after India retained the title in 2023

Fans criticized the decision to omit Gavaskar from the trophy ceremony after the Test match

Scott Boland took six wickets, taking his tally to 10 for the match, before Australia returned to the crease to claw their way to victory.

The result sees Australia qualify for the World Test Championship final at Lord’s later this year, with Cummins’ side taking on South Africa.

However, cricket fans on social media were furious at the Channel 7 commentator’s criticism.

“This is outrageous…” someone wrote on X. “Needs to be investigated and unless the reasons are well understood (or have been the pattern).

‘That is to say: the winner always receives the trophy of one of the B or G duos. This is an insult of the highest order. Is this CA’s decision in conjunction with the BCCI or anyone else’s? An explanation is needed, isn’t it?’

One added: ‘I was previously critical of Sunny’s comments but it’s quite disgraceful to ban the men the trophy is named after from the awards ceremony. Pretty poor.’

While another