India vs Australia: Sunil Gavaskar slams Aussie media, says they are an extension of team support staff

New Delhi: Batting great Sunil Gavaskar slammed the Australian media on the eve of Ranchi Test and claimed that are an extension of the team support staff.

"We should not bother too much about the Australian media and what they write as they are an extension of their cricket team`s support staff. The focus now should shift to cricket from off-the-field issues," Gavaskar told NDTV yesterday.

The ongoing series between the two top-ranked teams have assumed an all-out war after the infamous DRS controversy which broke out during the second Test in Bengaluru.

Talking about the controversy, the former India captain said that it was time, cricket became the focus.

"Neither India captain Virat Kohli nor his Australian counterpart Steve Smith have said anything about the issue in between the second and the third Tests. Both captains had their say on the last day of the Bengaluru Test and now they have spoken ahead of the third Test," he added.

"Nobody spoke anything in between about it but the media, otherwise there was nothing between them (Kohli and Smith). It is time look at cricket now. A lot of good cricket that was played in the first two Tests has been swept away because of this one incident."

He also talked about the on-filed banter, and asked players to restraint themselves.

"There should be aggression but only in terms of cricket, not otherwise. Young players tend to misunderstand while expressing aggression and tend to do it with their mouths instead of the bat and ball. Talking on the field has to be brought down and the International Cricket Council (ICC) has to take a tough stand on it," the 67-year-old said.

Lunkily for both the sides, the third Test in Ranchi got off to a good start, without any controversy, on Thursday.

Aussie skipper Steve Smith won the toss, and elected to bat first.