Memories of Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Manohar Gavaskar turned 72 on 10 July 2020. The cricketing fraternity recalls his travails of this little master who with his puritan techniques with the willow made a mark in the annals of Test cricket.

I have followed his amazing journey mostly in awe and with admiration but sometimes also with despair and anguish.

He came to fame with a stellar performance with the bat during 1971 series in the West Indies, a dream debut series of 774 runs in four Tests – he missed the first Test due to injury – including four centuries.

In the very first Test he played at, Port of Spain, he scored 65 and 67 runs and helped India to the Test series win in Caribbean islands for the first time. He then went on to hit four centuries in the next four Test, aggregating 150-plus runs in the first outing. In fact he scored a century in each innings – 124 and 220 runs – at Port of Spain.

Gavaskar made a sensational debut series. His insatiable taste for runs earned him the sobriquet of ‘Brown Bradman’.

In the Caribbean islands in his debut series he dared the pace bowlers to poke at him. Of course it was not a lethal combination of pace battery at that time, but they still intimidated the young Gavaskar. In fact in a tour match before fourth Test, Wes Hall, a feared monster at the time, bowled a bouncer at him.

Gavaskar hooked it, and the ball went skimming to the midwicket boundary. It is this sense of mastery and the pride of success that made him realise his burning desire to achieve with distinction.

The young lad who flourished within the compound walls and on the uneven bouncy wickets of the playground through his efforts and determination now came to the fore with the same ambition and dedication to the game. It was this quality of endurance, particularly against fast bowlers, that Gavaskar cherished. It inspired him to the formidable force he eventually became.

At the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, India were set 335 runs in 312 minutes. Indian captain Ajit Wadekar thought it was better to play safe as India were leading the series. So India played for a draw.

But that didn’t deter young Gavaskar from batting freely. He scored a century. In his Sunny Days book Gavaskar recalls the day.

“In the process I got a century (117 not out). It was purely a defensive innings since winning was out of the question. Yet I played my shots with confidence and authority and a hook for six off a Dowe bouncer stands out in my memory.”

In the final Test at Port of Spain he hit a century in each innings – 124 and 220 runs – to establish his credentials as a future great batsman of his era. In a foreword to Gavaskar: Portrait of a Hero the game’s greatest all-rounder, Sir Garfield Sobers of the West Indies, wrote: “This was a phenomenal start to a Test career which was to continue to set new standards in courage and application, for India had no demon bowlers, yet Gavaskar continued whenever he played to rewrite the record books, even though he was raised on spin”.

And with the solitary win in the second Test of the series at POS India won the series by 1-0 for the first time in West Indies. Gavaskar was the toast of success in the Caribbean islands.

Sunil Gavaskar (PA Images via Getty Images)

After the Caribbean experience India travelled to England in 1971-72 for another gruelling series. Though Gavaskar didn’t flourish against the moving balls, India registered its first series win again under Ajit Wadekar. In the return series of the England team to India in 1972-73 Gavaskar had moderate success.

India travelled to England again in 1974. In the first Test at Manchester Gavaskar overcame the moving ball fear and scored a brilliant century against the likes of Bob Willis, Chris Old and Derek Underwood. Though India lost the Test, Gavaskar was blossoming into a formidable opener for India.

In subsequent series he improvised his techniques. His straight drive was his signature shot. It was a treat for spectators. Though he was short in stature, he didn’t hesitate to hook bouncers at times.

Gavaskar fought many a battle for India in Tests both home and away. Some of his best knocks are below.

India chased a famous record victory at Port of Spain in the West Indies in 1976 when the visitors were set a target of 403 runs. Gavaskar and his brother-in-law, Gundappa Viswanath, each scored a century to put India in a victorious position, with Mohinder Amarnath and Brijesh Patel also chipping in with useful contributions and the series ended as 1-1. Incidentally Port of Spain seemed to be his happy hunting ground.

Gavaskar’s gem of an innings came when he almost single-handedly won India a Test with a matchwinning knock of 221 against England in 1979 in the second innings at The Oval. Pundits declare this innings as one of his best knocks in Test history in pursuit of a victory. With a chase of 438 runs and India gave up after Gavaskar’s dismissal by Ian Botham and ended up falling short by nine runs, the score reading at 8/429. In fact after this heroic innings Ian Botham, England’s finest all-rounder, asked Gavaskar to hand over the bat as a souvenir to him. Gavaskar obliged him.

His swansong at Bangalore was in a spinners mine in 1986 against Pakistan. It was the series decider, and when no batsman on either side except Dilip Vengsarkar reached 50 runs Gavaskar batted valiantly for 96 runs to stand tall among the ruins until the umpire erroneously ruled him caught at short leg when the ball actually hit his pad outside leg stump. Pakistan won by 16 runs and the series 1-0.

There were many more knocks, like centuries in both innings in Karachi in 1978, his 205 runs as a first-time captain in Mumbai in 1978 and a fine double century at Chennai in 1983 against Windies when batting at No. 4 for the first time.

Gavaskar was also a man of immense personal pride, though that was more pronounced in his playing days, when he could be stubborn, obstinate, prone to tantrum and sanctimonious. Sometimes it would appear that he was at war with the world and other times at war with himself. Both were probably true.

He fought furiously for pride and self-respect at a time when Indian cricket was easily dismissed. In his time he had a few memorable altercations with umpires, opponents, fellow players and administrators, which he would see as silly now. As captain he sometimes stretched defensive tactics to bizarre levels. In 1981 against England he accentuated his ‘mean’ image, and he once he called the Indian selectors a “bunch of jokers”.

After retirement Sunny tried to help out cricketers less fortunate than him with their benefit matches or some other financial assistance.

Some years later he started the Champs Foundation without too much fanfare or publicity to provide financial help to needy and ailing sportspersons across disciplines. During the 1993 riots in Mumbai, as is famously known, he went and rescued a Muslim family from a mob near his residence.

Milestones

• Sunil Gavaskar broke some of the records of the game’s best batsman, Don Bradman.
• Gavaskar became the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in Tests.
• He scored the highest number of centuries (30), surpassing Don Bradman’s 29 centuries in Tests.
• His career-best score of 236 runs in an innings in Tests came at Chennai in 1983 against the West Indies while batting at No. 4.
• His only century in ODI was scored in 1987 in World Cup tournament, his last hurrah from international cricket.

Indian cricket, especially in its Test format, owes a lot to Sunil Gavaskar for his valuable contributions to the game. Once a turncoat side in the Test cricket, Gavaskar, with his poignant style with pure technique, brought glory to India Test cricket and brought his national side the respect it deserved.