Trailing 0-3, India surrendered meekly after brave resistance by Sachin Tendulkar and Amit Mishra on the final day of the final Test at the Oval here yesterday , to help England complete a 4-0 whitewash and officially become the number one team in the world in the five-day format.
"It was very disappointing. Everybody though it would be a great series, but it was an abject surrender," Gavaskar, who is part of the ESPN-Star Sports commentary team, said.
Gavaskar felt India, who came into the series as the number one team, did not live upto their billing.
"This was not the way a number one team plays. They normally lose by close margins, not like this," he added.
Gavaskar surprised at India`s abject surrender
"Maybe the approach was wrong and the attitude wasn`t there."
Gavaskar`s colleague in the commentary box, Shastri attributed the drubbing to a combination of factors.
"It was a combination of a lot of factors - injuries, lack of form. But this is a rude wake-up call," Shastri said.
Gavaskar surprised at India`s abject surrender
The former all-rounder, however, expressed hope of a revival.
"Tough guidelines should be in place, and we should have a core group of players for all three formats of the game. You might not always have desirable stories but that`s the way forward. That way, Indian cricket could get back on track in 6-8 months." he said.