Shamik Chakrabarty, Mumbai
It was Gavaskar de real master,
Just like a wall,
We couldn’t out Gavaskar at all, not at all,
You know the West Indies couldn’t out Gavaskar at all — Lord Relator
This column is going to be anecdotal, with a bit of personal gratification. Apologies for that.
Many years ago, this correspondent had abruptly submitted his maths paper and faked illness to leave the school for the day. The principal, a great man, couldn’t read the mischief and granted an early leave. The reason actually was to watch Sunil Gavaskar’s batting, as he was nearing his 29th Test hundred at Feroz Shah Kotla. He was taking the fearsome West Indies pace attack, spearheaded by Malcolm Marshall, to the cleaners. The maths exam became incidental.
Many moons later, after coming to this profession, when I said this to the maestro, his sharp one-liner was “exam mein pass hua ki nahi”? I barely managed to clear it.
Gavaskar is a brilliant raconteur. He has a special ability to mimic different accents. In the same series, the final Test was at Chepauk. For the first time in his career, Gavaskar decided to bat down the order. As it turned out, both Anshuman Gaekwad and Dilip Vengsarkar would perish without troubling the scorer, and when Gavaskar walked out to bat at No. 4, India were yet to open their account. Now, over to the great man, and how Viv Richards had reacted as the two had a brief conversation after the over. “Viv came to me and said, ‘no matter, no matter where you bat maan, the score is still zero’.” Gavaskar would go on to score 236 not out to surpass Don Bradman.
Another story he told was from India’s tour of Australia in 1977-78. “As we came out to bat, it started drizzling and the pitch became a little greasy. I told something to my opening partner Chetan Chauhan and he smiled. Jeff Thomson was bowling and he misunderstood it and thought Chetan mocked him. He marked an imaginary cross on Chetan’s forehead and went back to his bowling mark. Chetan was game for a fight. ‘I’m a Rajput, dekh delenge,’ he said. I was trying to calm him down. Thomson started to bowl like the wind. It felt like he was trying to hit Chetan. Somehow we negotiated that spell.”
Gavaskar would recount how Shammi Kapoor used to come to Shivaji Park and watch club cricket sitting in his car. He told stories from his movie debut in Savli Premachi and that Padmakar Shivalkar, the late, great Mumbai spinner was an excellent singer.
This correspondent is not qualified enough to talk about Gavaskar’s batting. That is for the likes of Geoffrey Boycott, Imran Khan and Richards to analyse. All I know is that 13 of his 34 Test centuries came against the marauding West Indies, without wearing a helmet. Sunil Gavaskar gave Indian cricket its self-respect.
Welcome to 77, Sunny bhai. Aap jiyo hazaaron saal…
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