Sunil Gavaskar tears into England’s ‘capitulation’ in Ashes: ‘Looks more like couldn’t care less cricket’
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar minced no words as he tore into Ben Stokes’ England for the horror show in Australia, where the Three Lions lost the five-match Ashes 2025-26 series 4-1. The visitors did manage to register their first Test victory Down Under in 14 years, but it came when the urn was already lost. Yes, England’s performances did improve in the last two Tests in Melbourne and Sydney, but by that time, the horse had already bolted as England conceded the Ashes in 11 days, after losing the first three games in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.
The Ashes campaign was also marred by several reports of England players being involved in binge drinking sessions during matches and paying visits to casinos multiple times. A report in the Telegraph also stated that Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum were not on the same page and there were visible differences between the two.
In his column for Sportstar, Gavaskar wrote that neutral fans didn’t expect much from England in the Ashes, considering the challenges that come with touring Australia. However, he did take a potshot at the English media for not being able to smell the coffee and building their team up regardless.
“England’s performances in most sports are a huge let-down when set against the write-ups their teams receive from people who have hardly, if ever, played any sport at the highest level. The disappointment, therefore, is far greater when the teams show that they are more paper tigers than real ones,” Gavaskar wrote.
“England’s capitulation to Australia by a 4–1 margin was, therefore, not really a surprise for the non-English. It is extremely tough for visiting teams to win a Test series anywhere, especially in Australia and India. India themselves, however, were beaten comprehensively by New Zealand a couple of years ago and by South Africa late last year,” he added.
‘Couldn’t care less cricket’
It is worth mentioning that the former New Zealand wicketkeeper-batter McCullum took over the reins as the Test coach in 2022. He, along with Stokes, revived England’s fortunes to some extent, as the side won the series against New Zealand, the fifth and final rescheduled Test against India and the away series in Pakistan. However, ‘Bazball’ started to wear off as teams began to prepare better. Under Stokes and McCullum, England has so far never won a series against India or Australia.
“McCullum brought the same freshness to England’s cricket, and that took the rest of the cricketing world by surprise. Gone was the dreary, dull cricket they played, and suddenly, the opposition did not know how to counter it. However, as with so-called mystery bowlers, the surprise wore off. Once teams realised that England had little answer whenever the ball deviated, provided the pitches were not flat, the problems became evident,” wrote Gavaskar.
“With their media making excuses for them about pitches when they were overseas, the batters refused to change their approach and bat according to the situation. With the management also ignoring some of the unforgivable and irresponsible shots played by the batters, the fear of being left out simply is not there. Valuing playing for your country and putting a minimum price of a century on your wicket is something only the great Joe Root does. The others could not be bothered, as they knew they were unlikely to be left out of the squad,” he added.
Gavaskar, part of the World Cup-winning squad in 1983, also stated that the fearless cricket that English media was going gaga over, was reduced to “couldn’t-care-less cricket” against Australia Down Under.
“What the media calls fearless cricket today often looks more like couldn’t-care-less cricket. With the guarantee of a central contract and the various T20 leagues around the cricketing world, there is no worry about how to put food on the table, which was the case when these facilities were not there and losing a Test place meant going back to mundane first-class cricket, where one hardly earned enough, let alone saved for a rainy day,” wrote Gavaskar.
“How many in the England team that lost the Ashes series can put their hands on their hearts and say that they gave it everything, not just physically but, more crucially, temperamentally, in the series? You tell me,” he concluded.
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