India vs South Africa: Sunil Gavaskar Blasts Odisha Police for Failing to Control Cuttack Crowd Trouble

The second Twenty20 international witnessed total domination by South Africa as they outplayed India in all departments. Albie Morkel, who was playing his first T20I in more than a year, was the star with 3/12 as India were bowled out for 92, their second-lowest total in T20I history. South Africa had few troubles in chasing the total down and they sealed a six-wicket victory, thus taking an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.(Match Report | Scorecard | Highlights)

However, the match was marred by crowd trouble during the South African innings. In the 11th over of the chase, bottles were hurled onto the ground from the top section of the stadium by an unruly crowd. The resulting disturbance saw play being held up for 27 minutes. After two overs, more bottles were hurled and the players walked off. There was serious concern that the match would take place. However, the officials started the match after 30 minutes and South Africa coasted to victory.(Crowd Trouble Mars Game)

Speaking exclusively to NDTV, former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar has blasted the Odisha police and stated that the ineffectiveness of the police force meant that due to the misbehavior of a few fans, a lot of other genuine fans missed out on the entertainment.

"The police were standing there without any instructions. The police who are stationed on the boundary perimeter should not be watching cricket but they be monitoring the behavior of the fans," Gavaskar said.

He also added that this incident has given a bad impression to Indian cricket and he advocated strict punishment to deter such action.

"Cuttack should not be given an international for the next couple of years. As a deterrent, the BCCI must also stop the subsidy to the Odisha Cricket Association," he stated.

Looking at India's performance, many fans would have been dismayed but Gavaskar had absolutely no sympathy for them.

"Do the crowd throw valuables when the team does well? When the team does badly, the fans have no business to throw rubbish," Gavaskar said.

On the match, the former India captain said that India were complacent and added that Axar Patel was rushed into international cricket too soon. He said that Dhoni could have tried out Mishra in this match.

"My honest advice to Indian players is not to get complacent. They must strive to get better. Amit Mishra could have been tried as MS Dhoni had no confidence in Axar Patel. I think Axar is being rushed into international cricket too soon," he said.

The third Twenty20 international is in Kolkata on October 8 and India will be hoping to register a win and get some momentum ahead of the five-match ODI series starting from October 11.