Milind talks about the early days of Sunil Gavaskar's career.
Sunil Gavaskar served drinks as a reserve player while he was desperately trying to make it to the Bombay (as Mumbai was called then) Ranji Trophy team in the late 1960s. He was even contemplating moving to Bengal as he was not getting a chance to play for Bombay. It was only because of the captain Ajit Wadekar's finger injury that Gavaskar got a chance to break into the Bombay team.
These and other Gavaskar anecdotes were recalled by his childhood friend, Bombay team-mate and current chairman of Mumbai selection committee Milind Rege at the Legends Club to celebrate the 66th birthday of the former India captain at the Cricket Club of India on Friday.
Rege, neighbour of the Gavaskars and elder to the Little Master by a year, said Gavaskar was a failure in his first three years of college at St Xavier's (1966-69). “When he was selected for Irani Cup (1967-68), his first appearance for Bombay, we firmly believed that he was not ready to play for Bombay,” Rege said. “On a wet pitch at the Brabourne, he was out in both the innings for 5 and 0. He was never picked for Bombay for a couple of years. Gavaskar was not even in the 14. He served drinks in the Bombay camp. At one point, he planned to go to Bengal to play as he was not getting a chance in the Bombay side. He got one chance (in the Irani Cup) and lost it. Today, we give players enough chances to fail,” said Rege, an off-spinner who appeared in 52 first-class matches and took 125 wickets.
“However in the last year of college cricket, Sunil scored so many runs and was picked up. The rest, as they say, is history,” Rege said.
"School and college cricket in Mumbai was so strong then. Today, college cricket is reduced to 50 overs and it is a sorry state of affairs. The age-group tournaments introduced by the BCCI has had serious impact on the attitude of the cricketers. Sunil came up the hard way through college cricket,” Rege reminisced.
Talking about the days before Gavaskar broke into the Indian team, Rege said that the former opener was not a flamboyant batsman. “When you saw Sachin Tendulkar play at 10, you said 'Wow, what a player'. When Sunil started playing, he was just like you and me. The difference between Sunil and others was the huge hunger he had to play for India even in his younger days. This was because his uncle, Madhav Mantri, a hard taskmaster, had played for India,” Rege recounted.
“Every time he went to play a match, his concentration levels were amazing. Gavaskar was a great example of being shrewd and cunning. He was cunning in a nice way. In schools cricket, he was a batsman who could bat and bat and bat. As we were all taught, 'stay at the crease and runs would come', Gavaskar was a prime example of that.”
Rege said that Gavaskar was “not a flamboyant batsman”. “As Gavaskar grew, he understood the game, became so technically sound. He read the length of every ball and learnt to leave the ball very well. In our gully cricket, Gavaskar would never get out. We cheated him out and he would sulk,” Rege said.
Former India captain Ajit Wadekar, under whom Gavaskar made his India debut in 1971 in the West Indies, said “Sunil is the greatest batsman India has ever produced”. He added, “When he retired at the right time, he was still considered the best batsman in the West Indies, England and Australia. Those days, when there were fewer matches, Sunil has done so much to Indian cricket that if it was considered the golden period of Indian cricket, it was only because of Sunil's contribution.”
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}