Agencies
NEW DELHI, July 10: It is difficult to be consistently relevant in an ever-evolving world. Unless, of course, one happens to be Sunil Gavaskar, who is celebrating the completion of 75 eventful summers in his life on Wednesday.
It's tough for today's young cricket fans, who have grown up watching IPL big hits, to truly understand the significance of Gavaskar, as often they have a shrunken image of him -- a former-cricketer-turned-commentator -- in their mind.
Now, there are too many of them. Or, perhaps, it's the recency bias.
However, Gavaskar, who tackled some of the meanest pace bowlers to have walked on earth, remains a colossus in the minds of his contemporaries, who fondly recall the greatness of the right-hand great.
"Gavaskar made his debut two years after my retirement. But we have already been told by (late) Ajit Wadekar about a talented Bombay boy who could make a lot of runs for India. Didn't he make a lot of runs," said former India batter Chandu Borde.
So, how did Gavaskar tame those fearsome quicks from the West Indies, right from his first series in 1971?
"It's his concentration and a water-tight technique. I have not seen a better stance than that of him, and he watched the ball so closely. Of course, he could play most of the shots but used them wisely. He was a very practical batsman, knew what to do when," said Borde.
Gavaskar scored 774 runs in that series, helping India conquer the West Indies 1-0. 'Lord Relator' immortalised that triumph with a Calypso dedicated to the master batsman.
"It was Gavaskar. De real master. Just like a wall. We couldn't out Gavaskar at all, not at all," he wrote, and to this day it remains a goosebump-inducing number.
Gavaskar is often remembered for his mastery over pacers such as Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall, and Imran Khan, but another less talked about aspect of his batting was the way he nullified spinners.
Gavaskar, who once rated England's Derek Underwood as the toughest spinner he faced, outfoxed some of the wily tweakers of his generation like Abdul Qadir, Tauseef Ahmed from Pakistan and England's John Emburey.
"Sunny had brilliant footwork, and could use soft hands (against spin). Since he used to watch the ball very closely, he could play spinners late and he never really got into awkward positions against them," recalled former India middle-order batter Mohinder Amarnath, himself a slayer of pacers in the 80s.
But occasionally, he wore the enforcer's garb too.
He creamed Marshall for a six to equal the then world record of 29 Test hundreds held by the legendary Sir Donald Bradman. |
