Revision as of 21:26, 7 March 2021

Graphic courtesy: The Times of India

Childhood and teens

As he turned 60, parents recalled Sunny's childhood Pradeep Vijayakar,TNN | Jul 11, 2009 The Times of India<> Mid-day

Sunil Gavaskar's parents Manohar and Meenal refuse to take much credit for the greatness of their son. (Manohar Gavaskar worked for a textile firm. He was a good club cricketer, who used to keep wicket and open the batting. He was also a hard-hitting batsman, who scored a splendid hundred in the Kanga League for Rajasthan Sports Club in the late 1950s. He was also the captain and a very aggressive captain at that.)

About Gavaskar's greatness on and off the field, all that Papa Gavaskar says is,"It's just the divine gift he has of sifting the weed from the chaff. Looking at the kind of stuff he has been exposed to, the varied people he has met, Sunil had every chance of being influenced in some way or another. The great thing is that he has taken the right path and this would not have happened without divine help".

Manohar said the genesis of Sunil's cricketing prowess lay in the family which was full of cricketers. "His grandparents from mother's and father's side were school chums and played together in the early part of the last century in Shirode near Goa. My elder brother Baban was a left-arm spinner in the class of Bapu Nadkarni and I played club cricket. Sunil's uncle Madhav Mantri played for India. What more do you need." The dad said Sunil never made any demands on them because of his powers of observation. "He saw what austere life we had to live once our breadearner, my uncle, passed away prematurely. That meant me surrendering Rs 95 of the Rs 100 salary to my aunt, the balance Rs 5 to my wife for her personal expenses."

The only tough demand Sunil made was when he wanted to watch, as a 16-year-old, the opening day of a Mumbai Test match right from the outset, including how the teams trained and how they came to the field. Recalls Manohar, "I colluded with him, gave him a leave note saying he had a headache. The next day the principal asked him,'How was the match?'. I was summoned by the principal who said, 'Today you have encouraged a lie, tomorrow he may lie to you.'. Shame-faced I told principal Kamath Nunes I was wrong and the mistake would never be repeated. That was a lesson in honesty that Sunil learnt for life."

"The schoolteachers at St Xavier's High School were of a kind and they shaped Sunil's character in a major way," he said.

The genesis of Gavaskar's decisive self is mirrored in another anecdote. This writer [Pradeep Vijayakar] and he both applied for MBA at Bajaj Institute of Management. Gavaskar got a call. The father takes up the story, "I used some influence from some agents of the Bajaj Group to push Sunil's claims. At the viva voce, one Col. Bose told him that with the amount of cricket he played would mean him missing the lectures and projects which are never repeated. So he asked him whether he was more keen on MBA or cricket. Sunil promptly said,'Cricket,' and that was that. I admired him for that."

Gavaskar's lesson in democracy was honed by the nightly family meetings. Manohar recalls, "The children would open up before us and we would guide them. Once Sunil asked me which subject to pick, French or Sanskrit. I told him I had little time to teach Sanksrit, which I knew. Mother, who had time, could cope with French and French it was for Sunil and he took the decision."

Likewise, Sunil accepted dad's advice not to take up a job and continue playing collegiate and university cricket. "University cricket was played countrywide and was competitive and got good press coverage. Office cricket was restricted to Mumbai. Sunil agreed, made tons of runs for Bombay University. Luckily the Vizzy trophy, a zonal tournament, was created just then and the cream of the varsity talent was on view. Sunil scored heavily in the first edition, went to Sri Lanka, scored there as well and never looked back. I remember chairman of the selection committee, Vijay Merchant, saying in one of his radio shows that after skipper Ajit Wadekar, Sunil's was the second certainty for India selection."

Manohar related a tale which indicated Sunil's feelings. "A singing beggar would come to our colony. Lest his singing be interrupted by having to collect the coins thrown at him, Sunil would go down, collect the coins on his behalf and hand them over to the beggar. Who would have thought in these terms?"

There's another tale about his 'Matrubhakti' (devotion to mother). "His mother was in a VIP enclosure at Bangalore and Sunil came all the way from the commentary box to touch her feet. An Englishman was amazed to see a legend do this in full public view and asked the significance of it. He was told it was how Indians respected their elders."

The bottomline for Sunil, says the dad, is that he has met so many people, has had invitation from the power brokers in politics but has steered clear of power blocks.

Sunil doesn't have any dreams unfulfilled but the father hopes that the academy for which the government gave him a plot comes up. Also that a Gavaskar stadium in his home district of Vengurla also gets completed. "It was begun over a decade ago."

Career

Gavaskar reminisces

Gaurav Gupta, March 6, 2021: The Times of India

13: Number of centuries in 48 innings (27 Tests) by Gavaskar are the most by any batsman against the West Indies.

30: His career-best unbeaten 236 against West Indies at Chennai in December 1983 was his 30th hundred, setting a record for most centuries in Tests then, overtaking Don Bradman’s tally of 29 in 52 Tests.

774: Runs scored at an average of 154.80, including four hundreds and three fifties, in four Tests against West Indies in the Caribbean in 1970-71 — a record by a batsman in his debut series.

2749: Runs scored at an average of 65.45 in 48 innings (27 Tests), including 13 hundreds and 7 fifties, by him is a record by any batsman against West Indies.

10,000: Gavaskar was the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in Tests. He achieved the distinction against Pakistan at Ahmedabad in March 1987. His final tally was 10,122 runs (ave 51.12).

Long before the cable TV revolution and social media boom, the faithful transistor was Indian fan’s best buddy. It was an era when the West Indies produced some of the greatest quicks the world has ever seen, Australia had Denis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, Pakistan had Imran Khan and Sarfaraz Nawaz. India didn’t have the firepower with the ball to match them, but then, they had Sunil Gavaskar, the man who could blunt them all. Today, marks 50 years since the game’s greatest opening atsman, first played international cricket, against West Indies at Port of Spain. In an interview with TOI, Gavaskar talks about that smashing start in the Caribbean in 1971, his fascinating journey, the best cricketers he played against and his knocks that are part of folklore. Excerpts …

Fifty years since your debut. What do you remember about that day?

What I remember even today is the sense of pride and happiness at being finally able to wear the India cap. The cap had been given as part of our touring kit like blazer, sweater, etc, but I didn’t wear it in the few First-Class games we played before the Test match.

774 runs in your debut series. No one has been able to match that performance. What was the secret of that start?

Pure luck. Imagine the greatest cricketer of all time, Sir Garfield Sobers dropping me twice even before I had settled in!

Why did you never wear a helmet? Did you try one in the nets or in county matches?

Nobody wore helmets those days. We barely had leg-guards and gloves. Our thigh guards then were the hand towels in the hotel which we shoved into our front pocket! It’s only after this tour (’71 tour to the West Indies) that a sponge thigh guard was made but which hardly served the purpose. I never really felt the need for a helmet, because I was confident of my technique. It was only after Malcolm Marshall hit me flush on the forehead that I used the skull cap. The skull cap I used only in the last three years of my career. That too only while the ball was new. Then it was back to the white Panama hat.

You played so many great innings. If you get a chance of playing an innings again, which one would it be? And why?

Ideally every innings where I got a duck is what I would like to play again so maybe I could get some runs!

That 96, in your final Test innings in Bangalore, is talked about a lot. What do you remember most about that knock?

What I vividly remember even today is a rare short ball from the left-hand spinner Iqbal Qasim and in my eagerness, I hit it straight to the fielder for a dot ball!

You must be aware that people switched off their transistors after you got out? How did you deal with that pressure? Even in grounds, people came to watch only you …

It was only at Eden Gardens that I felt the pressure of crowd expectations. I was desperate to get big runs there to get the unbelievable ovation of the 90000-plus crowd, but eventually I got runs only in one Test match over there.

That famous dismissal in the 1983 Kanpur Test, where you were caught by Winston Davis off Malcolm Marshall with the bat falling off. A lot was written about it and suggestions were made that it was time to go. Talk us through your feelings after Kanpur and in the days leading up to that blazing hundred at Kotla?

In the infamous Test at Sabina Park (in Jamaica) in 1976, where there was a bouncer barrage at us, I, accidentally discovered that with being barely able to grip the bat after the battering the fingers had got, if the bat was held loose and the ball hit the gloves, it would drop dead at my feet because there was no ‘give’ of the gloves. The bat would fall from the hands but I would grab it before it fell to the ground. That became my way of playing the short ball while defending it. In the Kanpur Test in 1983, the ball actually didn’t bounce as much, so instead of hitting the gloves, it hit the shoulder of the bat which was gripped loosely, and so the impact made the bat fly out of my hands. I was disappointed as I had failed once again in my in-law’s town and resolved that I would start hooking the short ball again.

Did you consciously cut down on shots knowing how much the team depended on you? How difficult is that self-denial mode? In that sense, do you feel that Cheteshwar Pujara is sometimes unfairly criticized?

Yes, I had cut down the hook shot to a great extent as it was not a percentage shot. The cut shot too got me out often so I barely played it. Yes, Cheteshwar denies himself for the sake of the team and needs to be appreciated more, because it’s his solidity at one end that allows the stroke players at the other end to play their shots.

Did you change bat weights as you grew older?

My bat weight changed marginally as I grew older. They became a bit heavier for that time.

A lot was speculated about your frosty relationship with Kapil Dev, especially after he was dropped midway into the series against England at home in 1984-85.

Ours was, and is a relationship of mutual respect. He is ten years younger than me so his circle of friends were different. As for him being dropped, all I can tell you that it wasn’t me who proposed that action. I maybe a lot of things but am not an idiot to propose dropping the only match-winner in the team. Remember also that as captain, I was only co-opted to the selection panel with no voting rights.

Your relationship with the media then and now. Has it changed?

My relationship with the media is pretty good I think. After 1978, because of the offer from World Series cricket, I was called a traitor by some.

You have also been criticised for speak too much in favour of the BCCI.

All those who feel that way weren’t even born in the 70s when I was taking up the players’ cause with BCCI. Today, it has become fashionable to call those who are not anti-establishment as spineless and chamchas. I do not need a certificate from them about my integrity.

Who was more lethal? Malcolm Marshall, Andy Roberts or Michael Holding?

Andy Roberts was more lethal, as he could bowl the unplayable ball even when you were past a hundred.

1981: Melbourne

The Times of India

Dec 28 2014

I regret my act of dissent in 1981: Gavaskar

Melbourne

Almost three decades after the infamous walkout incident in the Melbourne cricket Test which generated huge controversy, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar today regretted his act of dissent and said that it was a big mistake on his part. In the 1981 series that had been dogged by some inconsistent umpiring, a Dennis Lillee in-cutter caught Gavaskar plumb in front and umpire Rex Whitehead, standing in just his third Test, raised the finger.

But Gavaskar, who thought that the ball had got his bat on the way to the pad, protested by standing his ground long enough.

Gavaskar also slapped his pads with the bat, letting the umpire know about his anger. As Gavaskar reluc tantly started to leave, Lillee reportedly made one comment too many and the Indian snapped, returned to the crease and instructed fellow opener Chetan Chauhan to walk off the pitch with him.

A bemused Chauhan did as he was told, but at the boundary rope, the batsmen were met by team manager Shahid Durrani and Bapu Nadkarni, the assistant manager. Chauhan was persuaded to return to resume his innings, while Gavaskar walked into the pavilion.

“I regret the decision. It was a big mistake on my part. As Indian captain I was not supposed to act in that manner. In no way I can justify my act of defiance. Whether I was out or not, I should not have reacted that way ,“ Gavaskar said during a tea-time chat show with Sanjay Manjrekar and Kapil Dev. “If the incident would have occurred in present times then I would have been fined,“ he added.

Durrani's quick intervention saved the incident from becoming far more serious. Had Gavaskar succeeded in his walkoff then India would have been forced to forfeit the Test and faced suspension as a result.

A young Kapil Dev, who was on his second overseas tour, then spearheaded the Indian attack with aplomb to take a five for 28 and help skittle out the hosts for 83 as India were able to draw the three-match series 1-1. “I was too young at that time to react.But I can say one thing that we were all with the captain.”

The Times of India

“My stand vindicated”: says Durrani on Gavaskar walkout

Dec 29 2014

Santosh Suri

A day after Sunil Gavaskar on a TV channel regretted his infamous “walkout“ incident during the Melbourne Test in 1981, one man who feels vindicated is thethen team manager Wing Commander Shahid Ali Khan Durrani, who had averted an ugly situation. The Lucknow-based Durrani, who retired as Group Captain after a long stint with the Air Force and UP-governmentrun Uptron, told TOI that once back in the pavilion, the Indian skipper had regretted the incident. “But, to my knowledge, this is the first time he has done so in public.“ Durrani said he was worried when he saw the attempted walkout. “It was obvious to me from the dressing room that nonstriker Chetan Chauhan was reluctant to leave the field, but Gavaskar gave him a mild push. When I saw what was happening, I rushed to the outfield from the dressing room, taking next man Dilip Vengsarkar along with me,“ he said.

“By the time I reached the outfield, both Gavaskar and Chauhan were just about a few metres from the boundary . This is when I ordered Chauhan back to the crease and sent Vengsarkar in. Fortunately for India, a very ugly situation was averted which could have caused India and the BCCI a great deal of em barrassment.“ Durrani had termed Gavaskar's behaviour “deplorable“ in his manager's report then.

“In the dressing room, I talked to Gavaskar and prevailed upon him to forget the incident and to get on with the game. He realised his mistake and the game proceeded without any more untoward incidents,“ he said. “I had strongly recommended that the BCCI should ask Gavaskar for an explanation and take action against him.“

Why he walked out

January 1, 2021: The Times of India

Sunil Gavaskar has cleared the air on his infamous walkout during the Melbourne Test of 1981, saying it was the Australian players' "get lost" call, and not his leg-before dismissal, that prompted him to storm off the ground with his opening partner.

In the 1981 series that was dogged by some inconsistent umpiring, a Dennis Lillee in-cutter caught Gavaskar plumb in front and umpire Rex Whitehead, standing in just his third Test, raised his finger. But Gavaskar, who thought that the ball had got his bat on the way to the pad, protested by standing his ground long enough.

"The misconception is that I was upset at the lbw decision," Gavaskar told 7Cricket, offering fresh perspective to the incident.

"Yes, it was upsetting. But the walk-off happened only because, as I had gone past Chetan (Chauhan) on the way to the change-rooms, the Australians had given me a spray. They told me to get lost, which is where I've come back and asked Chetan to walk off with me."

Gavaskar also slapped his pads with the bat, letting the umpire know about his anger. He had scored 70 in that innings, his highest of what was turning out to be a poor series for him.

As he reluctantly started to leave, Lillee reportedly made one comment too many and the Indian snapped, returned to the crease and instructed fellow opener Chetan Chauhan to walk off the pitch with him.

A bemused Chauhan did as he was told, but at the boundary rope, the batsmen were met by team manager Shahid Durrani and assistant manager Bapu Nadkarni.

“I got an inside-edge as you can see from the forward short leg fielder. He hasn't done anything, he hasn't moved.

"Dennis (Lillee) is telling me, 'It hit you there,' and I'm trying to say, 'No I hit it.' And now you see, I've asked Chetan to walk off with me," said the former India captain narrating the incident on a show where it was played out for him.

In his earlier interviews, Gavaskar has said that he regretted the decision to leave the field in such a controversial manner. India had gone on to win that match.