Sunil Gavaskar, Cricket’s Little Master: 60 Years, 100 Tributes
Debashish Dutta
Niyogi Books
300 pages
Rs995
A book that celebrates Sunil Gavaskar’s 60th birthday with a special century: by bringing together 100 tributes
Who was better? Sunny or Boycott?
Sunil played more matches, scored more runs and centuries than me, but in terms of technique, I consider myself superior to Sunil even if by just half a percentage point. That’s perhaps why we have so much respect for each other.
—Geoffrey Boycott
Sunil Gavaskar is the best opening batsman I have seen in Test matches. He was better than Gordon Greenidge and Geoff Boycott. I am leaving out Barry Richards because he could not play much Test cricket.
Sunny had perfect technique, good balance and was never rattled or made to look ungainly by the fast bowlers. Where he had the edge over Boycott is that he hardly ever allowed a half-volley to go unpunished. He was also remarkably good against short-pitched bowling. His short stature helped him to sway away from the line of delivery or duck under it with great ease and elegance.
—Mike Brearley
Sunil Gavaskar vs Sachin Tendulkar
A lot of people ask me whether he would have been successful in the T20 version as well. Well, he was capable of doing anything with a bat. Nobody played fast bowling better than him. If a guy can score 13 hundreds against the West Indies pace attack and handle others such as Imran Khan, John Snow and Bob Willis, he cannot be an ordinary batsman. He dominated them without a helmet, on uncovered wickets. And let’s not forget that he dominated the bowlers for 17 long years. The current generation of cricketers is not really aware of how great a player Gavaskar was.
People talk about Sachin Tendulkar, who is a role model for the newer generation. I too love to watch Sachin. But I always remind young cricketers that Sunil enjoyed success at home and abroad, facing 73 fast bowlers. After the retirement of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne there are not too many top-class bowlers around on the international circuit. Better quality bats and all sorts of protective equipment have made a batsman’s life easier.
—Hanif Mohammad
When Sunny got a tip from Sir Garfield Sobers
There was one period when perhaps the cares of captaincy and other matters weighed him down and the customary avalanche was reduced to 50s.His teammate, Dilip Doshi, invited me, as I was then living in Australia, to have a look and offer a couple of tips. I immediately noticed that Sunil was not getting behind the line. He was too often square-on outside off-stump and therefore would offer too many chances to slip and gully. It is to his great credit that one little word in his ear was enough and he was soon again coping with Thomson, Lillee, Alderman, Lawson and all the rest that Australia had to throw at him.
—Sir Garfield Sobers
Excerpted with permission from Sunil Gavaskar, Cricket’s Little Master: 60 Years, 100 Tributes published by Niyogi Books
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