Gavaskar slams Team India's optional practice regimen

The Indian cricket team's run of poor form has prompted former captain Sunil Gavaskar to come down heavily on the beleaguered players and question their "abysmal work ethic" following Sunday's defeat to arch-rivals Pakistan in the ongoing Asia Cup tournament in Dhaka.

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- Photos from the match

India suffered a nerve-wracking one-wicket defeat, which virtually put them out of contention for a berth in the final of the five-nation tournament. They lost two matches and won just one, against Bangladesh.

"India's work ethic has been pretty abysmal. It has let the team down. They have not practiced well and there can't be something like optional practice. There was no excuse for anyone, apart from Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli, to miss practice," Gavaskar told NDTV.

"This business of optional practice has to be thrown out of the window. This is not the case only in this tournament, but throughout.

"You are not here to be in your hotel rooms or to be out in the shops. You are here to represent India, something which the team management has not been saying for the past two-three years. That's been the disappointing aspect. This also explains why the Indian team hasn't won anything of note apart from the Champions Trophy," said Gavaskar.

Gavaskar also lashed out at the top order, saying the batsmen were over-confident and failed in their shot-selection.

"India threw away a couple of wickets unnecessarily and every time Pakistan have been asked to chase 250 recently, they have failed. So, we were a few runs short," said the former skipper.

He also said that it is very easy for the batsmen to hit sixes at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka, as the boundaries are shorter.

"The boundaries should be a bit longer. Sixes were hit easily on this stadium."

Gavaskar, however, defended stand-in-skipper Kohli, saying he has shown promise.

"For somebody who is captaining for the first time in a major tournament, Kohli has done well and shown promise. Losses to both Sri Lanka and Pakistan were suffered in the last over," he pointed out.