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Gavaskar lashed out at overseas stars for criticising India’s Asia Cup 2025 squad.
Brad Haddin hits back at Sunil Gavaskar after India legend slams overseas stars for criticising India’s Asia Cup 2025 squad. (Picture Credit: PTI)
Former Australian wicketkeeper-batter Brad Haddin has hit back at Sunil Gavaskar after the India legend slammed overseas stars for criticising India’s Asia Cup 2025 squad. Many greats and experts of the game were left surprised after the Ajit Agarkar-led senior men’s selection committee ignored Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal for a place in India’s 15-member squad for the premier continental event starting September 9 in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. They questioned the reason for Jaiswal and Iyer’s absence from the squad, and their reaction irked Gavaskar.
In his column for the Sportstar last week, Gavaskar slammed the foreign players and accused them of adding fuel to the fire.
“What is baffling is foreigners who have zero stake in Indian cricket, and much less knowledge about it, wading into the debate and adding fuel to the fire. However great they may be as players and however many times they may have been to India, the selection of the Indian team is strictly none of their business,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for The Sportstar.
Reacting to the criticism by Gavaskar, Haddin, who played in all three formats of the game for Australia and now is part of the Punjab Kings coaching set-up, said, “I am glad he (Sunil Gavaskar) is listening to the show. We are going worldwide.”
He defended his comments on Iyer’s omission by adding that his job is to give opinions on what’s happening in the cricket world.
“Our job is to give an opinion on what’s topical in world cricket. That’s what we do,” Haddin said on the LiSTNR YouTube channel.
“We coached him (Iyer) in the IPL, and I stand by my take. I was shocked that he wasn’t in the squad, and I am not saying the other players (selected) shouldn’t be there. The reason I say that is because just the way he handled our group; he was a great leader, and the way he played under pressure, leading from the front. But, yeah, they are obviously going well even with players like him on the sideline.”
Iyer scored 604 runs in 17 matches of IPL 2025 for Punjab Kings after joining the franchise last year in the mega auction for Rs 26.75 crore. But despite his super show with the bat, he was not considered by Indian selectors for the eight-team tournament.
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