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Why Gavaskar is unhappy with Pakistan's tour of India
Former captain Sunil Gavaskar on Saturday clarified that cricketing reasons were behind his opposition to Pakistan's limited overs tour of India next month.
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He stressed that has no objections to renewing cricket ties with Pakistan but is unhappy with the tour being scheduled between the England series as it denies the Indian players a chance to rest and recover.
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England will return home after the four Tests and two T20I games on December 22 for Christmas before returning in January for the five-match ODI series. In between, Pakistan will make its first tour to India after a long gap of seven years to play three ODIs and two T20Is.
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Why Gavaskar is unhappy with Pakistan's tour of India
"I had reservations about the timings because there were cricketing reasons as well as personal reasons. The cricketing reason was that India had a window of just about weeks between the England Test series getting over and the England ODIs starting."
"So I thought the Indian team could utilize the break to rest, to recover from some niggles that they might have and cricket wise take stock of what had happened in the Test series. That was the thinking behind it," Gavaskar said in Mumbai at a promotional even where he was presented with the Swiss Watch Manufacturer Ulysse Nardin's limited edition Maxi Marine Chronometer watch.
This will be the first bilateral series between the two countries after cricketing ties were snapped following the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008.
In July, Gavaskar had criticised the decision to play Pakistan, who he said were not co-operating in the investigations into the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008.
"Being a Mumbaikar I feel what is the urgency when there is no co-operation from the other side," Gavaskar had told NDTV.