22 April,2026 09:52 AM IST | Mumbai | Subodh Mayure
Australian cricket legend Allan Border obliges autograph hunters on his arrival at Mumbai’s domestic airport at Santacruz on Tuesday. Pic/Satej Shinde
Former Australia captain Allan Border arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday as part of his ongoing India tour on the special invitation of Sunil Gavaskar. As reported by mid-day in its April 10 edition, former Indian captain Gavaskar has invited his friend and ex-rival Border to watch the Indian Premier League, and has even planned his itinerary.
Border, 70, who is here with his son, Dene, watched Sunday's IPL clash between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Eden Gardens and got nostalgic, having returned to the venue for the first time since leading Australia to their maiden World Cup title in 1987. "I should have come to the Eden Gardens much earlier. A good 39 years have gone by since we won that World Cup but memories of that final game are still fresh," Border told mid-day on Tuesday.
The Aussies, who batted first and scored 253-5, beat England (246-8) by seven runs. In the 31st over of the chase, while England were cruising at 135-2, Gatting, who was batting well on 41, attempted a reverse sweep, but ended up giving a catch to wicketkeeper Greg Dyer. "Mike Gatting's reverse sweep cost England that match. They were cruising nicely till the reverse sweep happened. Gatting and I are still good friends, but sometimes I do tease him by mentioning that reverse sweep," said Border, who collected 11,174 runs from 156 Tests at an impressive average of 50.56.
Speaking of the IPL, Border couldn't stop praising RR's teen prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, 15, who hammered a 28-ball 46 (6x4s, 2x6s) against KKR. "I think Vaibhav's one hell of a player, a great talent. I have never have seen any batter at the age of 14 or 15, hitting a cricket ball with so much of power. Of course, I can't predict at this moment if he will go on to become a very successful Test cricketer or no, but I can clearly see glimpses of [West Indies great] Brian Lara in him. He has a long way to go, but he sure can hit that ball across all parts of the ground," said Border, who played 273 ODIs, scoring 6524 runs at 30.62.
A stylish left-hander himself, Border however, had some words of advice for his fellow southpaw Sooryavanshi. "Vaibhav must now learn how to tighten his defence," concluded Border, who will be catching the Mumbai Indians (MI) vs Chennai Super Kings (CSK) game at Wankhede on Thursday.
