"British media would have certainly made a big deal" - Sunil Gavaskar's scathing attack on Dukes ball losing shape in ENG vs IND 2025 3rd Test

The controversy took a step further when legendary Sunil Gavaskar launched a brutal attack on the Duke's ball losing shape in the ENG vs. IND 2025 3rd Test. British media and some pundits opined against India captain Shubman Gill's animated chat with umpires regarding the quality of the ball.

In the ongoing 3rd Test of the Tendulkar-Anderson trophy, the red ball hardly lasted for even half a session. That forced India to change the second new ball twice in the first innings of the third Test. On Day 2, Gill was spotted on the field several times engaged with umpires with animated gestures, which annoyed former cricketers like Nasser Hussain.

The dry summer of England and batting-friendly tracks might have effects on the ball, but that's counted as a proper excuse behind the decreasing quality of the ball. Gavaskar also questioned the standard of Duke balls. He claimed that the infamous British media and some cricket experts would have torn India apart if the same happened in the subcontinent's conditions.

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"Even from here you can see that it is not a 10-over-old ball; it is like a 20-over-old ball. If this would have happened in India... where if there were not enough balls similar to the ones replaced, the British media would have certainly made a big deal out of it," Gavaskar said on-air.

Bumrah did not want to make any comment on the issue 

The ball controversy was initiated during the second Test of the series in Leeds when India vice-captain and keeper Rishabh Pant requested the umpire to change the ball only to be rejected. That caused Pant to throw the ball away and attracted a fine and a demerit point for his actions as well. 

After the stumps of Day 2 at Lord's, Jasprit Bumrah chose to keep his mouth shut regarding the issue. He only said, "I don't want to lose out on money because I work very hard and bowl a lot of overs."