IPL 2016: Sunil Gavaskar feels big-hitters get away with careless performances

Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar expressed his disappointment with a few aggressive players, saying that they often get away playing hastily because they have the image of an "attacking player". He said that they are always keen on going for the big shots and which has resulted in them throwing away their wicket.

"There is always a thin line between carefree and careless cricket and the so-called aggressive players often get away with careless play because of the image of being an attacking player," he wrote in his column for The Times of India.

Gavaskar, who believes that the race for playoffs has heated up with Mumbai Indians winning against Royal Challengers Bangalore, also lashed out at certain players of Kings XI Punjab who have not been taking their performances in the IPL seriously.

“Kings XI have been out of sorts with their star players not delivering when needed. In fact, the impression from a distance that some of them are not even giving it their best may be misleading for no player likes to fail, but at the same time, some players feel once they have made it to their national teams that the performance in the IPL will not impact their places in the national team and so tend to play a bit carelessly.”

He also praised Mumbai Indians batsman Jos Buttler and said that the England wicket-keeper batsman was the "smartest buy" of the season. Gavaskar said that he has been impressed by the England right-hander as he has the rare skill to hit good deliveries for enormous sixes, as he did in their last match against RCB, giving his team their sixth win of the tournament.

The 66-year-old also commended Caribbean all-rounder Keiron Pollard, saying, "Kieron Pollard, who was keen to make up for the expensive over that he had bowled that gave RCB some hope and he also joined in the mayhem that was savage in its intensity, yet seemed so cool and calculated."

Ahead of MI's clash against KXIP, Gavaskar picked the former as favourites as they are playing at Vishakhapatnam, their new home ground, and added that they have momentum in their favour.

He hopes Krunal Pandya does not follow the footsteps of his brother Hardik Pandya, who has had a bad run in the tournament. "They had young Krunal Pandya waiting to bat and the left-hander has shown a good appreciation of the faith reposed in him and has delivered regularly with both bat and ball. All Krunal has to do now is to look no further than home to avoid the mistakes that brother Hardik seems to have made in losing his place in the team."

On the other hand, Gavaskar showered praise on Kings XI Punjab captain Murali Vijay, saying he has a huge task on his hands to lift the team as he is not getting the support his team needs to win matches.