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“The 1985 team was probably the best Indian ODI team apart from the 2011 World Cup winning team” – Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar and Boria Majumdar
Sunil Gavaskar and Boria Majumdar (PC: Boria Majumdar)

I have had the privilege of speaking to Sunil Gavaskar throughout my career and I can say that he has always been generous with his time but at 75e birthday, it’s fitting to celebrate him with this interview about his career and more. It’s the perfect tribute to Sunny bhai on his birthday.

Q: I’ll do it in two parts, Sunny bhai – you as a commentator and of course as one of the best cricketers ever. I celebrate you as a whole. As someone who defined Test cricket for us, do you think this team has what it takes to win in Australia and win the WTC?

A: Yes, absolutely, they can. I think in the next two months an attempt should be made to convince Hardik Pandya to play Test cricket. If he bowls ten overs a day in addition to his batting, this Indian team can become invincible and they can definitely go on and win the WTC and beat Australia in Australia.

Q: Sunny bhai, you won the 1985 Benson and Hedges as captain. One of our biggest victories. How do you see Rohit as captain?

A: Fantastic. There are captains for whom it is a pleasure to be captain. Rohit and MS Dhoni are in that category. There are others for whom it is the pressure of captaincy. I was in that category. The fact that Rohit is relaxed and enjoys being captain makes him the captain he is. I like the way he leads his team and his body language.

Q: A fantasy question before I come to you as a cricketer: a match between your 1985 team and the team that won the 2011 World Cup would be amazing?

A: Absolutely. And I can tell you we had a great team. Because the 2011 team played a lot more ODIs than we did, they could have beaten us on the very last ball!

Q: Can you give us a glimpse into the magical winning moment in Trinidad in 1971 when you hit the winning shot?

A: Oh, it was unbelievable, even after all these years. We were chasing just 124 in the fourth innings and (Syed) Abid Ali was promoted up the order because he was a fantastic runner. Abid would just chip and run. I thought that as a non-striker I was pretty good at reacting to quick singles. In Mumbai we used to call this chipping and running ‘tiffin singles’. Abid came. The singles started happening and soon there were a few overthrows. In that desperate state they tried to run us out straight away. That made our job easy. Three years later, in Manchester, he helped me immensely to complete my hundred. I remember taking a few singles with him which would not have been possible with some of the other members of the team. Abid was a fantastic runner, a complete team man, a very sharp bowler and a dangerous batsman. He could cut and pull. And Abid was a real gutsy cricketer. What a fielder at short fine leg he was! Simply amazing. We speak highly of Eknath Solkar. But believe me, Abid Ali was not far behind.

Q: In Manchester, your 85-run partnership with him could not save India from defeat. But three years earlier, in the second Test at Port of Spain, your unbeaten 41-run stand with him had given India a glorious moment in history.

A: In the end it was Arthur Barrett who tried to bowl a googly. It was short and fell mid-pitch. I went back and pulled it over midwicket for a one-bounce boundary to win us the game. It was unbelievable!

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Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar (PC: BCCI/X)

Q: Then the world record of 774 happened in your debut series. Was that a big cross to bear?

A: There is no denying that expectations were sky-high. Up until then they might have expected good performances, but not that much. In a debut series, such a fantastic performance had only been recorded by Sir Don Bradman. So they expected something similar every time. But it was not possible to match it every time.

Q: Imran Khan repeatedly said, and was echoed by others, that before you, Indians could not play fast bowling well. Did you at any point try to change this perception?

A: The claim that Indians can’t bowl fast was started by the British press. Show me any team, including England, that can bowl fast. No team can bowl fast. Look at the success that India has had in recent times. It’s only because we have some good fast bowlers. What about England against West Indies in the 1980s? Did anyone ever say that England can’t bowl fast? When Australians were getting thrashed by West Indies, did anyone say that Australian batsmen can’t bowl fast? I don’t think so. You can see that this was a myth created by vested interests against India. No one has generalised the failures of other teams in this way.

Q: Gundappa Viswanath told me about a team culture that Wadekar introduced: every evening there was a session in his room where anyone could drop in. Juniors and seniors would happily participate. Has it helped bridge the generation gap and foster team spirit?

A: Those hotel rooms were not five-star hotels, but more like the hotel rooms of the old days. Some players would sit on the bench, some on the floor, some on the carpet. They enjoyed each other’s company. These get-togethers helped tremendously with team bonding. Even when the seniors were playing cards and you were sitting on the sidelines, the subject that was discussed was cricket. There was never any deviation. A junior could learn so much from those cricket stories.

Q: Rohan, your son, told that since the Sudhir Naik incident in 1974 (Naik was accused of stealing a pair of socks from a shop) To notice & Spencer), you’ve never been to a Marks & Spencer store. Is that true?

A: Yes, maybe two or three times in the last 50 years. And that too for carrying the woman’s bag (laughs). But I’ve never bought anything there.

Q: Was this a silent protest against the allegations against Naik?

A: Absolutely. It was completely unfair. Sudhir was given the wrong advice to plead guilty, and that left a stain that was very difficult to remove. I have known Sudhir all these years, from the time we used to play tennis ball cricket against each other. I felt very close to him. We lived in the same neighbourhood. I didn’t think he was ever capable of stealing. And after the incident, I asked Colonel Adhikari if I could share a room with him. I don’t remember who it was, but the person said that he was too ashamed to share a room with Sudhir. I got a lot of calls coming to the room where the abuse started immediately. I tried to protect him from all that.

Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar (PC: BCCI/X)

Q: Going back to the two victories in the West Indies and England in 1971 – did they play a part in boosting India’s confidence ahead of the victories at the MCG in ’81, the World Cup victory in ’83 and the Benson & Hedges Cricket World Cup win in 1985?

A: Oh yes, in that respect the ’71 victory was huge. Mind you, after our Trinidad victory the West Indies came back at us very hard. Sobers himself was under a lot of pressure at home because he had played a two-wicket exhibition match in Rhodesia. He was under a lot of stress, which not only made him bowl faster but also made him bat magically. So there was a lot more pressure on our team to keep the lead and win the series. When we did that, it gave the whole team a lot of confidence for the England tour.

(The victory in) 1981 was also a defining moment because there were several moments when it became extremely difficult. First of all, to get past the pathetic standards of umpiring. In my very first year in international cricket, I was fortunate enough to visit three countries: the West Indies, England and then Australia to officiate for the rest of the world. The standard of umpiring that I saw in these countries was appalling. And more importantly, it was so biased. But for some strange reason, our media – whenever they went on tour – never highlighted the standards of umpiring that the team was subjected to. In comparison, the foreign media, whether it was England or Australia, acted as if they were the extra support staff of the team. I never understood why our media were reluctant to highlight the questionable standards of umpiring. They seemed so shy as if they were afraid that if they wrote something against (them), the home board would not grant them the necessary accreditation, or whatever reasons that I do not understand.

I am not saying you are making up stories. But what is stopping you from stating the reality? In 1981, from the first match, the umpiring was ridiculous. Absolutely pathetic. We just managed to draw the second Test, which was preceded by some terrible umpiring decisions. At the press conference I said that anyone who comes to India and talks about Indian umpiring is nothing but whiners and moaners. The next day that was the headline. Even then no one had objected to the umpiring decisions. Not the media, not our own board. So when it came to the last Test, towards the end of the match, we thought we were in a very good position. Despite Australia chasing a relatively small total of 142 in the fourth innings, it was not easy because the pitch was starting to deteriorate. So all things considered, it was a huge win. At least we didn’t lose the series and won for the first time in Australia.

Q: 1985?

A: In my opinion, the Indian team of 1985 was probably the best Indian one-day team, apart from the team that won the 2011 World Cup. If you had a match between those two teams, 2011 and my team of 1985, it would be a fantastic cricket match.

Q: How does it feel to be involved in some of the most defining moments in Indian cricket?

A: I feel privileged. I feel blessed to have been alive during that time. And also the fact that I have been able to associate with some of the giants of the game, both from India and abroad.

Also read: I enjoyed taking Harry Brook’s wicket in the semi-final: Kuldeep Yadav

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