‘More like couldn’t care less cricket’ - Sunil Gavaskar blasts England over dismal Ashes performance

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has blasted the English Cricket team for their underwhelming show in the Ashes 2025-26, saying that the team’s approach looked like they did not care about the results. England were beaten comprehensively by the Aussies, with their only win coming in the fourth Test of the series, by when they had already conceded the series.

Gavaskar said neutral fans were not shocked by the Ben Stokes-led team’s struggle, particularly given how it is already tough to beat Australia in Australia. He was disappointed by the way the Three Lions approached big moments. 

“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 in his column for Sportstar.

The ace commentator also took shots at the term ‘Bazball’, and the brand of cricket the English team plays under the coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes. While their new style was exciting to begin, the opposition teams countered it well over time.

“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,” Gavaskar pointed out. 

The Indian batting great did not mince words about England’s mindset either. Gavaskar argued that English players, barring Joe Root, seemed to bat without adjusting to the match situation and did not value their wickets enough.

"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,” he concluded. 

England suffered a humiliating 4-1 loss against Australia in the Ashes 2025-26. Although their performances improved in the last two matches, the series was already lost.