Sunil Gavaskar offended by Nasser Hussain's 'past Indian teams were bullied' claim

Cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar and Nasser Hussain engaged in a heated debate before the Headingley Test on Wednesday. The former English captain had posted a column on the Daily Mail in which he claimed that the current Indian team will not be bullied like the ones from the past. In reply, an intrigued Gavaskar asked Hussain which generation of Indian cricketers was he referring to.

Gavaskar asks Hussain which Indian cricketers were bullied

In the pre-show of the Headingley Test, Sunil Gavaskar asked Nasser Hussain which Indian cricketers was he referring to when he said that they will not be bulled. "You said this India will not be bullied as perhaps the previous generations would be. (I) Belonging to the previous generation, could you perhaps enlighten which generation? And what is the exact meaning of bully," asked the former Indian captain.

Hussain responded, "I just think, the Indian side under the aggression of the past, would have said ‘no no no’. But what Kohli has done is to make them go doubly hard. I saw a little bit of that in Sourav Ganguly's side and he started that. Virat is continuing with it. Even when Virat was not there, Ajinkya really went hard at the Australians. I just don't think you want to wake this Indian side up."

However, Gavaskar was not satisfied with Hussain's response as he attempted to justify why he did not believe that his side was ever bullied against England. "But when you say previous generations were bullied, I don’t think so. I'd be very upset if my generation was being talked about as being bullied. If you have a look at the record, in 1971 we won. That was my first tour in England. 1974, we had internal problems, so we lost 3-0. 1979, we lost 1-0. It could have been 1-1 if we chased down 438 at the Oval. 1982 we again lost 1-0. In 1986 we won 2-0. We could have won it 3-0. So, I don't think my generation we were bullied," explained the former Indian captain.

Mike Atherton attempts to make peace

Former England cricketer Mike Atherton attempted to bring peace to the conflict between Sunil Gavaskar and Nasser Hussain. On Sony Sports Network, Atherton said, "I have come to offer peace on Nasser Hussain's behalf after what happened yesterday. However, Gavaskar was uninterested in having any of it. He said, "I never took a backward step. So, I'm not gonna do that even now. This should be pretty much known to those who know me by now."

Image: PTI & AP