Sunil Gavaskar, never one to cop it quietly, has responded sharply to Ricky Ponting's remarks that former players like Gavaskar who criticise the Australian team for poor on-field behaviour were no angels themselves.

"I still have a vivid image of Sunil Gavaskar angrily trying to take his opening partner off the MCG with him in 1981 when he was given out lbw in a Test match," Ponting wrote in his recently-published 'Captain's Diary 2008' "but to hear him today you'd think he was positively angelic when he was the best opening batsman in the world," he wrote.

Gavaskar told CNN-IBN, an Indian television channel, that the comments were "totally uncalled for" and showed the world they were "rattled".

"Ponting was just seven years old when the MCG incident happened. He does not know the background," Gavaskar said. "I think they have been a champion side and suddenly they find that they have a challenger in India. And therefore, it's not just Ponting but all the other statements that we have heard from other Australians.

"Probably [they are] trying to sell their books or whatever it is," he said.