England hit back at Sunil

England have fired back following a fierce attack on their performance during the drawn Second Test against India.

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has claimed Nasser Hussain's men lacked ambition on the final day of the game after setting a victory target of 374.

Gavaskar said in a newspaper column: "It looked as though they were trying to avoid going two down."

He added: "They have come to India with a party of over 20, including around 10 officials, but all those officials have not served any purpose."

In fact, England's back-up team is seven strong, including a scorer and a press officer, and Gavaskar's words brought a sharp response from David Graveney, England's chairman of selectors.

"He should try to imagine what it would be like for an Indian side with five of its top players missing," said Graveney.

"I thought it was a fantastic performance by the team in Ahmedabad. Any criticism is badly misplaced."

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The Phil Tufnell column