Sunny Rules. Review on Sunil Gavaskar

First Teacher : Sunil Gavaskar, the cricketer, doesn't need any introduction to the cricket fans. Born to a middle class family in Mumbai on 10 July 1949, his first guru was his mother. She used to bowl at him with a tennis ball for hours and this little genius, staying in a middle class apartment, had to hit the ball straight to his mother. This forced him to hit the ball straight and thus he developed his famous straight drive.

Might have become a fisherman: He might have become a fisherman had it not been for his eagle-eyed uncle who spotted a small dot near his left ear lobe (or pinna) when he came to see the infant Gavaskar on the day of his birth. When he visited him again, he was shocked not to see the dot in his left ear which he spotted earlier and panic button was pressed and everyone started to search the correct baby. Later they realized the babies mix up had happened when the babies were given bath and spotted Gavaskar sleeping peacefully near a fisher woman.

Initial Period : From the day one, he possessed all the four Ts that is essential for any batsman- Talent, Technique, Temperament and Timing. He piled up runs for his school (St Xaviour school, Bombay) and college and rightly got the nod to play for the prestigious Bombay Ranji team. With his superlative technique, he scored heavily in the domestic circuit which earned him a place for the tour of West Indies in 1971. He was selected as third opener.

Debut : He didn't play the first test and the another young opener Jayanthilal got the chance ahead of him and was out for a low score. Courtesy a superb catch by Sir Garfield Sobers. He lost his opportunity to young Sunil in the next test match. Destiny really played its part in both Gavaskar's as well as Jayantilal's life. Same man who caught Jayathilal dropped Gavaskar twice in the first innings of the first test and twice in second test. Gavasker made use of his mistake and made his maiden hundred in the second test after scoring 65 and 67 in the first test. Sobers after dropping those four catches, asked Gavaskar 'Man Why you are after me, can't you find some other fielder?' with some embarrassment. In that series he accumulated 726 run. After that there was no looking back for this 'Bombay Bradman'.

His Style : Gavaskar strongly believed in sneaking singles even in longer version of the game and he had to confine his aggression as the quality of the bowling and the pitches in those days were of super standard. He and elegant Vishy were the one who had to hold India's innings and in later stages of his career he got some support from the Azhar and Vengsarkar. Most of his life he played with a semi helmet and a hat on his head even against the deadliest of the attack. He had a very good eye and he was hare between the wicket. When there was a loose ball or when the fielding team started to feel the tiredness, that was the time he would look for some big shot. Most of the times, he would prefer to play in th 'V'. A cultured player, to compare him in the modern time, he was a 'Much Filtered Rahul Dravid'.

Memorable Moments :

Called as 'Little Master' by the real Little Master - Hanif Mohammed - he played a crucial part in successfully chasing the mammoth target of 406. He almost repeated the same feat against England in 79 Series in Oval and scored 221. His 236 N.O. against West Indies in 1983 /84 was the highest Individual score for an Indian batsman then. He was one of India's best slipper. He was the first Indian to take 100 catches. His slip catching ability was one of the hidden reason for India to lift the world cup in 1983 against the mighty West Indies. He took 4 great catches on that day. He had a great cricketing acumen and was a perfect recipe for captaining a side. With his astute leadership quality, he led India to victory in the World Series ODI tournament in 1985. In the tied test match played between India and Australia, he scored an important 90 while chasing 348.

He was a prolific scorer against the West Indies. This made the renowned Calypso singer Lord Relator to compose a song on a non West Indian for the first time. And the song goes like this “It was Gavaskar, the real master just like a wall”

As a bowler : He was a dibbly-dobbly bowler who rotated his arm only to take the shine away from the ball to aid the Indian spinners. He took only one wicket in both ODI and Test and the casualty on both the occasions was Zaheer Abbas.

Statistics : He is the first batsman to score 10000 runs with 34 centuries. He has taken 104 catches. He averages around 51 and he has a decent ODI record too. No wonder why Sir Don selected him as the opener in his dream team.

Anecdotes :

Botham and Gavaskar shares one thing in common. That is they played for same county in England - Somerset - for many years. On one fine morning, being a prankster by nature, 'Beefy' Botham knowing that Gavaskar had cynophobia - Fear of dogs - tied his two big German Shepperd in front of a phone booth when Sunny was making a call inside that booth. Gavaskar, being allergic to dogs, didn't come out of that booth and finally he was released by Botham nearly after 3 hours.

During 1983 in a match against WI, Gavaskar tried to bolster Indian middle order and he planned to come down at number 4 in the Chennai test. Unfortunately India lost two quick wicket for no run and Viv, from the second slip, murmured to Gavaskar in a humorous manner 'It doesn't matter whether you come at number 1 spot or number 4 spot, India's score will be on 0.'

When Sachin Tendulkar came to see Sunil and Sunil after seeing the heaviness of Sachin's pad, advised him to use a lighter pads and Sachin requested him to present his used pads and Gavaskar magnanimously presented it to him.

He also had some bad incident like the one where he questioned a LBW decision given by a Australian umpire in a test match against Aus.

Some Accusation : He was always accused for selfish playing. Some considered him as defensive captain. Another thing which was considered as a minus point is that he scored his runs very slowly. Some even said that he scored his run against weak bowling attacks as most of the bowlers left the International scene to play Kerry Packers Series from 78-79. It's up to the readers to decide.

Life after cricket : He is doing as a successful commentator. He also acted as a match referee for a brief period. He was appointed as Shrieff of Mumbai in 1994. He coached India when the regular coach Ajit Wadekar was indisposed during 92 Sharjah. He is one of the few Asian cricketer who is very articulate in English and he is writing a lot of cricketing articles in many sport magazines including the 'On the write lines' - a Gavaskar Column - in India's most popular sports magazine, SportStar.