It was Gavaskar
De real master
Just like a wall
We couldn’t out Gavaskar at all… not at all
You know the West Indies couldn’t out Gavaskar at all.
— Lord Relator, the calypso singer
When Sunil Manohar Gavaskar was born on July 10, 1949, he was like any other child. But, what could stand out is another story, the saga of how he was lost, and found, by one of his uncles — not Madhav Mantri, a former India Test player, as is the popular parable.
This is something that is too well-known to ardent followers of the game as Bjorn Borg’s Wimbledon records are to tennis fans. So, we’ll skip it altogether, athough no one knew what Sunil, or Sunny, would be when he grew up. Not even the learned astrologer, if ever the family had one. But, destiny was manifest. Gavaskar rose to eminence like a meteor. The rest is history.
Ever since he recorded his famous first wicket partnership of 421 runs with Anwar Qureshi, in a West Zone-Central Zone match, during the All-India Schools Cricket Championships, sixty years ago, Gavaskar has been in the limelight. And, now, three decades after he called it quits to the game, he still continues to hold on, with his charisma and his innumerable commitments. It’s a great script. It’s Gavaskar’s own. A script, which he himself writes in his own characteristic way — without purple prose, or pure literary finesse, or style, and rules of syntax. To his credit though, Gavaskar has never claimed to be a great literary writer, all right. This is not really important, although his well-thought-out ideas are — irrespective of the fact whether you acquiesce to them, or not.
Psychologists define achievement as “something… to do one’s best, to be successful, to accomplish tasks requiring skill and effort, to be recognised as an authority, to accomplish something important, to do a difficult job.” Gavaskar had and has everything of them, in abundance — as abundant a talent anyone could dream of, but not always achieve. The results speak for themselves. From his magical presence on the playing arena, and his string of records, Gavaskar is a walking advertisement hoarding, with the Gavaskarian touch, for just about anything — cricket to clothing.
Gavaskar launched his Test career in the West Indies, in 1971, with a bang. And, there was no looking back. With every passing year, his abilities only improved. So much so, he became an ornament, in Bradman’s words, to the game. His stupendous achievement, with the bat, which was overhauled by Allan Border, another great name, stands tall, a testimony to his character and strength. It’s an objective lesson for any youngster wanting to have a long and successful career, at any level, in the sport.
What was the secret behind Gavaskar’s success story? First of all, his famous temperament. His commitment and firm nonchalance. His footwork was just right, for he was rugged without being heavy. He had a sharp eye, exquisitely fleet-footed reflexes and wrists that had the power of steel. His sense of timing and control was brilliant. He was practically setting high standards for himself without overestimating his own self-importance vis-à-vis his batting chemistry — a factor that was evident to a great extent in the fruition of his goals.
Gavaskar’s essence of stroke-play, which was originally based on the merit of each delivery, attained a fine degree of controlled power once the little maestro began to derive real pleasure from the game — long after instant cricket came into being. He was able to bring about a transformation in his style because he executed strokes with easy flair and refinement. His record is proof of his prowess. More so, because he played for India, perhaps, the weakest bowling side — at one time — minus the glorious presence of the insuperable spin quartet in world cricket. He may have, perforce, scored a dozen more hundreds, adding them to his 34 tons… had he played against his own country.
Not that Gavaskar was, or is, flawless. Far from it. He has had his tiffs with authority, and himself, including his own sense of perceptions, or call it what you may, when he was a player — or, as a commentator/columnist/administrator, today. But, they have, in more ways than one, contributed to his phenomenal success outside of cricket. That he has one of the smartest — whatever your elucidation — brains, in the game, and outside, is beyond question.
Gavaskar’s statistical roll-call looks like a fairy-tale: 125 Tests; 10,122 runs; 34 hundreds; highest score, 236 not out; average 51.12. It celebrates his amazing enterprise, capability, and dynamism in getting things done. It also underscores his charming, omnipresent smile and sense of mysticism — one that pervades every known form of the transcendent.
His place is permanent in the game’s greatest, or highest, portals — for all time to come.
— First published in Cricket Odyssey
