Sunil Gavaskar's heated debate with Nasser Hussain in pre-match show grabs Twitter's attention

After the accelerated banter at Lord's between India and England, the repeat was seen at Headingley in Leeds ahead of the third Test, but this time between the former players.

The commentators - former India captain Sunil Gavaskar and former England skipper Nasser Hussain - were seen indulging in a debate in the pre-match show and sending Twitter abuzz.

Gavaskar and Hussain's banter on Sony Sports Network just before the toss on Wednesday even got netizens to talk. The point of discussion started after Gavaskar referred to a sentence in Hussain's article in the Daily Mail.

The former England cricketer had written about this current Virat Kohli-led Indian side not being bullied like the previous generation.

To this, Gavaskar asked Hussain to elaborate on which generation of Indian cricketers he was talking about. "You said this India will not be bullied as perhaps the previous generations would be. (I) Belonging to the previous generation, could you perhaps enlighten which generation? And what is the exact meaning of bully?" Gavaskar asked Hussain.

"I just think, the Indian side under the aggression of the past would have said 'no no no'. But what Kohli has done is to make them go doubly hard. I saw a little bit of that in Sourav Ganguly’s side and he started that, Virat is continuing with it. Even when Virat was not there, Ajinkya really went hard at the Australians. I just don’t think you want to wake this Indian side up," Hussain replied.

However, Gavaskar was unhappy with the answer and cited the records of the Indian side. "But when you say previous generations were bullied, I don’t think so. I’d be very upset if my generation was being talked about as being bullied. If you have a look at the record, in 1971 we won, that was my first tour in England. 1974, we had internal problems so we lost 3-0. 1979, we lost 1-0, it could have been 1-1 if we chased down 438 at the Oval. 

"In 1982 we again lost 1-0. In 1986 we won 2-0, we could have won it 3-0. So, I don’t think my generation we were bullied. I don’t think aggression means you have always got to be at the face of the opposition. You can show passion, you can show your commitment towards your team without yelling after each fall of wicket," Gavaskar said.

Hussain who still kept dodging Gavaskar's question said, "I for one, quite like the way Kohli leads this side. That’s what I wanted to say. That team talk in which he said 'let’s unleash fire on this English side' and you could see the fire that they unleashed."

To this Gavaskar replied, "There is no argument in that. The question is saying that the previous generations were bullied. I don’t think this is right".

However, the banter was brought to an end when presenter Harsha Bhogle said Hussain will have to leave for the toss. While netizens enjoyed the banter, they also praised Harsha Bhogle for how he handled the situation.

@bhogleharsha you beauty! Managed the scene well. The situation was a bit getting heated-up when Sunil Gavaskar was questioning Naseer Hussain about which generation was bullied. What does Harsha do? Politely allow @nassercricket to go for the toss 

— Madhavan (@madhavanva) August 25, 2021

Gavaskar saab got offended on naseer article about comparisonnon today's india test side and previous one

— pragya. (@girlliketoswing) August 25, 2021

Gavaskar and Naseer sparring first up

— Hitchy (@hitchwriter) August 25, 2021

Sunny Gavaskar was really upset with Naseer Hussain but @bhogleharsha managed it well to close it in time before it gets ugly. #ENGvIND

— Madan (@FullFaceOfBat) August 25, 2021

Lol Sunil Gavaskar blasting naseer Hussain live on sony on video call on calling previous indian team used to get bullied by england.#indvseng

— Raider ︎ (@RPrincexv) August 25, 2021

Well well Sunil Gavaskar had a real go at Naseer Hussain in pre show for @SonySportsIndia for saying that previous generation of Indian cricket were bullied by the opposition.#ENGvIND

—  (@trust_my_lies) August 25, 2021

As for the clash, India won the toss and opted to bat first. The toss, however, did not go as planned as India lost three quick wickets - KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Virat Kohli. It was James Anderson who sent all the batsmen back to the hut.