India play Aus too frequently: Gavaskar

Bangalore: Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has opined that India play Australia too frequently, which could lead to a decline in the competitive spirit between the two teams and in the interest in fans.

The Australians are in India currently to compete in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. It was only earlier this year that India toured Australia for a four-Test series, that produced a high degree of drama and excitement.

In his weekly column for the Times of India, Gavaskar writes, "It seems as if it was only yesterday that India and Australia were engaged in a Test series. Now barely eight months later, they will be confronting each other in a series that many from the Indian team believe is bigger than an Indo-Pak series."

He further writes, "But for the fact that it was such an enthralling series last time around, it made little sense for the two teams to be confronting each other so soon and in the same year."

"Too much of a good thing will even have the public get fed up," he writes.
 

He cites the case of matches between England and West Indies which have been so lop-sided in the recent past, and claims it would be better for India and Australia to follow the Ashes routine, to preserve the competitiveness in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.