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That's just one of several anecdotes packed in a new book on Sunil Gavaskar that has 100 tributes
to the cricket legend, who turned 60 recently. The GUIDE picks out the best
IT is only fitting that journalist Debasish Datta decided to compile a book Sunil Gavaskar: Cricket's Little Master which has a century of tributes to commemorate the batting legend's 60 years of existence. For, no other Indian cricketer before him decorated the century column in record books as heavily as the small man with big deeds. Although Sachin Tendulkar passed the mark four years ago, Gavaskar's 34 Test hundreds was more than just a benchmark.
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Knocking was good enough for him. Sunil Gavaskar at the nets of Eden Gardens in Kolkata |
Gavaskar celebrated his 60th birthday on July 10. Datta is someone whose cricketing contacts are well spread out across the globe. To get 100 people to talk/write about Gavaskar is a feat in itself. Some writers have made the most of the opportunity and come up with something unique; others have just gone through the motions.
Ian Chappell, the former Australia captain turned-cricket-commentator writes about how he got hold of Gavaskar's shoes, which he had left under his bed on a train journey from Gwalior to Delhi during the 1996 World Cup. Chappell tied them together. Sunny was the last to rise when the train reached Delhi. And while the rest of the commentary team waited on the platform, they noticed Gavaskar walking barefoot with his tightly tied shoes over his shoulder. He greeted them with the words: "You wait, I'll get even." Like a good strategist, Chappell writes, Gavaskar has kept him waiting for his revenge.
Gavaskar's childhood friend Milind Rege writes in the book that his mate had a great desire to act in films. Gavaskar did one in Marathi but not many know that he also "vanished from college" one day to be part of the Dum Maaro Dum song in Dev Anand's Hare Rama Hare Krishna.
Anshuman Gaekwad talks about how Gavaskar sparing no one not even his seniors when it came to pranks. "Sunny at a later stage became wittier and played pranks on others, especially Bishan Bedi and
S Venkataraghvan. There were occasions when each of them went after Sunny physically."
Ian Botham, the England all-rounder who played for Somerset county with Gavaskar in 1980 highlights how the great Indian was (and still is) scared of dogs. Once when Gavaskar was busy making a call in a telephone booth, Botham organised for a dog to "guard" the booth. This kept Gavaskar "indoors" for a couple of hours while Botham went to a nearby bar.
Probably, the most touching part of Manohar Gavaskar's piece is about how he couldn't buy his son a kit bag before the West Indies tour of 1971. Sunil borrowed his Hindu Colony neighbour Vijay Bhosale's kit bag which was duly returned to the owner after the historic tour. Interestingly,
and this is not in the book, Bhosale a
First-class cricketer burnt the kit bag as soon as Gavaskar retired from the game.
Journalist Pradeep Vijayakar, a classmate of Gavaskar's at St Xavier's College, reveals how the batsman wanted to play club cricket in Kolkata when he didn't find a place in the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team.
Gavaskar was a great wrestling fan, says childhood friend Milind Rege. Dara Singh was a big hero but a wrestler called Maruti Wadar from Kolhapur was special. Photographs of Wadar adorned the walls of Gavaskar's dwelling in Grant Road. | 
