Sunil Gavaskar has said he is happy with the way the first-class career of his son Rohan has panned out. The batting legend, however, said that he did not see enough of Rohan’s batting or bowling on the field. “I can’t comment much on his cricket because I didn’t see enough of him, it is hard for me to talk about his batting or bowling, but his first-class record is a pretty good one,” Gavaskar said.
Rohan played 117 FC matches and scored close to 7,000 runs at an average of 44. Over and above that, he took 38 wickets with his left-arm spin. His all-round abilities gave him an opportunity to break into the ODI team. But he managed to play only 11 ODIs.
Gavaskar thought it was not easy for Rohan to survive at the international level as Team India always had a strong middle order. “As for him playing only 11 ODIs, that is a problem batting at No 6 or 7 in a strong line-up like India. You don’t get too many overs to bat and are still expected to make a big score,” Gavaskar told DNA.
Gavaskar has often said that he had consumed away all the luck and as a result his son did not have enough of it to do well. “Yes, I do believe that,” he confessed. “The luck I had in my career with dropped catches was not quite there for Rohan. So maybe I used up all the luck,” the doting father remarked. He was, however, non-committal about his son’s burden of carrying forward the Gavaskar legacy. “You have to ask him if it was a burden.”
There was a talk that Rohan had to face umpiring horrors because some match officials did not like his father. Gavaskar said he would not be able to answer the query even if it were so. “As for him being given out because he was a Gavaskar, I cannot answer that since I hardly saw him play and you would be better of asking players he played with like Saba Karim, Deep Dasgupta, Ranadeb Bose and others.” Gavaskar, an icon in Mumbai, also refused to say why his son did not play for the city side in the Ranji Trophy. “You will have to ask him,” he said curtly.
The former India captain, however, was happy that his son took the game that gave them so much. “I am glad that Rohan took up cricket as a career because this game has been so good to us and has taught us so many things, especially about winning and losing and what team work and team ethic is,” Gavaskar said, rather philosophically.
Like Gavaskar, Rohan, too, has taken up commentary as post-retirement avocation and the father has no complaints. “I am glad he is being accepted as a good commentator and has good studio presence.”
So does he have any tips for his son on how to do well behind the mic? “How many sons listen to their fathers nowadays?” he signed off.
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