Sunil Gavaskar feels England players are jealous of Indian cricketers' IPL pay checks

India thrashed England by 4-1 in the five-match Test series as the Rohit Sharma-led side won the fifth Test by an innings and 64 runs at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala. In a series, where there were hardly any verbal duels, the tempers finally flared in the last match as Shubman Gill and James Anderson exchanged words with each other.

The incident prompted Jonny Bairstow to also have a go at Gill who questioned him for doubting the legendary seamer’s prowess. Recently, former India batter Sunil Gavaskar opened up on the reason why England and Indian players have a go at each other and stated that IPL paychecks of Indian cricketers could be a reason behind that.

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"That is also the reason why the England and Indian players get into verbal skirmishes so often when they are playing against each other. Not a lot of England players are picked in the IPL, mainly because they can be withdrawn by their Board anytime for a preparation camp or something, which leaves the franchises in a lurch," Gavaskar wrote in his column for The Sportstar.

Gavaskar further said that the pleasure of beating England increases tenfold because of that.

“Some of them can't stomach the fees for which some of the Indian players are bought and compare their achievements at the international level when the IPL auction dynamics can be so volatile and hard to explain or even understand. So you see more lip in the India-England encounters than in any other India match. That's why the pleasure of beating England is always greater,” he added.

England lost their first Test series under Ben Stokes' leadership

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Notably, the series loss against India is the first for England under the leadership of Ben Stokes. Following their loss, the Three Lions have sunk to the eighth spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) points table with three wins from ten games with a points percentage of 17.50 per cent. On the other hand, India are on the top of the table with six wins from nine games having a points percentage of 68.51.