NEW DELHI: Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar launched a scathing broadside against Ben Stokes’ England after their crushing 4-1 defeat in the 2025–26 Ashes series in Australia, branding the visitors “paper tigers” and declaring that the much-hyped Bazball approach has well and truly lost its edge.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!England’s tour ended in disappointment despite a solitary consolation win — their first Test victory in Australia in 14 years — which came only after the Ashes urn had already slipped beyond reach. The series was effectively decided in just 11 days, with England losing the opening three Tests in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.
Writing in his column for Sportstar, Gavaskar said neutral fans had not expected much from England, given how unforgiving Australian conditions can be. However, he took sharp aim at the English media for relentlessly hyping the side despite clear warning signs.“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,” Gavaskar wrote. “The disappointment, therefore, is far greater when the teams show that they are more paper tigers than real ones.”Gavaskar added that England’s heavy Ashes defeat did not come as a shock outside the country. “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,” he noted, while also pointing out that even India have suffered overseas setbacks in recent years.
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The former opener acknowledged that Brendon McCullum and Stokes had initially brought freshness after the New Zealander took over as Test coach in 2022, helping England win series against New Zealand and Pakistan. But Gavaskar argued that Bazball’s novelty quickly faded.“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,” he wrote. “Once teams realised that England had little answer whenever the ball deviated, provided the pitches were not flat, the problems became evident.”Gavaskar was particularly critical of England’s batting mindset and lack of accountability. “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,” he said, adding that only Joe Root consistently valued his wicket.He concluded with a damning assessment of England’s much-celebrated style. “What the media calls fearless cricket today often looks more like couldn’t-care-less cricket,” Gavaskar wrote, before posing a blunt question: “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?”
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