‘Once I got into a zone, anybody saying anything just bounced off’ Sunil Gavaskar

Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh (second from left), Batting great Sunil Gavaskar (centre) and former Australia opener Matthew Hayden (right) with Midwicket Stories co-founders Jaya Prasad (left) and Nishant Dayal at a city hotel on Sunday. Pic/Atul Kamble

Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar, who faced West Indies's fiery pacers in the 1970s and 80s has revealed how his concentration helped him avoid the sledging and disturbance from the opposition's bowlers.

The former India opener, who is also the first batsman to score 10,000 Test runs, was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of a new cricket show, Midwicket Stories, at a city hotel on Sunday.

When mid-day asked the former India skipper whether there were any incidents in which former Pakistan pacer Imran Khan or some of the other pacers tried to disturb his concentration, Gavaskar said: "No. For me, once I got into a zone seriously, anybody could say anything and it just bounced off."

When asked how intimidating the WI pacers were, Gavaskar said that they did it without even saying a single word. "They [WI bowlers] would stand in front of you at the end of the follow through, maybe just where you are, maybe just a couple of paces behind where you were, and if you were standing there, they would just raise eyebrows and look at you. That was enough. They didn't have to say any more. When they looked at you like that, it meant, ‘How come you still survived that kind of situation? Why aren't you back in the pavilion?' So that was enough. They didn't have to say a word," Gavaskar said.

Meanwhile, speaking about young players losing their cool during the ongoing IPL season, Gavaskar reckoned it is bound to happen in the spur of the moment. "Look, in the heat of the moment, things happen. So, it is not that you teach youngsters anything. Anybody can snap, that is what happens," Gavaskar concluded.