West Indian legend says he’ll pay to watch the current Indian opener, while Gavaskar’s runs against the best attacks make him the ‘greatest’
Garry Sobers has what he calls many ‘senior moments’. At 73, his memory isn’t very sharp. He does take time to recall names but overcomes any awkward moments, courtesy a fine sense of humour and disarming honesty.
But he didn’t have trouble calling to mind, among those who were part of Ajit Wadekar’s triumphant squad of 1971, the name of Sunil Gavaskar.
Sobers prefers to talk from memory. Reeling off statistics isn’t his strength. He did remember that the Little Master had scored something over 700 runs during his debut series against the West Indies 40 years ago.
“It was 774,” a friend whispered in his ear.
More than the number of runs that Sunny scored, what left a lasting impression on Sobers is the way the original Little Master went from strength-to-strength against the best attacks.
Actually, in Sobers’ book, Gavaskar noses ahead of Brian Lara, Viv Richards and Sachin Tendulkar when it comes to batting greats in the post-Bradman era. “It’s my view that Sunny is the greatest batsman I have seen. He has opened the innings against genuine fast bowlers like Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Colin Croft and Joel Garner. He has made more runs away from India — in the West Indies, Australia and England. This is not to belittle batsmen like Sachin, Lara or Richards. Tendulkar has done it all as a batsman,” Sobers said on Wednesday.
“When we played there was no restriction on the number of bouncers, there were no rules on field placements, the wickets were not covered and beamers were not called no-balls and the back-foot no-ball rule existed. So it would be difficult to compare eras.”
The legendary all-rounder also reserved high praise for Indian opener Virender Sehwag. “The opener you have is a great player. He is really exciting. I would pay to go and watch him bat. His name…. (after some prompting) ah yes Virender Sehwag,” Sobers added after experiencing another ‘senior moment’.
The West Indian termed Wadekar’s team of the early 1970s, one which recorded India’s first ever series wins in West Indies and England, as one of the best sides of that era.
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