When two asteroids clash, there is bound to be collateral damage. Over the weekend, one found two icons – Sunil Gavaskar and Shahrukh Khan – indulging in a war of words. And both sides decided to pump up the volume. In my long association with Sunil Gavaskar, I have always found him to be an extremely pragmatic man, some may call him opinionated, but in the recent past, he has become very vocal about issues that he feels strongly about. Sometimes the decibel level generated is too harsh and leads to needless controversy. But SMG doesn’t back down just as he never backed down against purveyors of the perfume ball – the West Indies fast men. His recent outburst against JB or John Buchanan is in that vein. Earlier his favourite whipping boys used to be the English, but lately he is reserving his best broadsides for the Aussies. So, ‘Sunil Gavaskar ko gussa kyon aata hai?’ It is a question dominating everyone’s mindspace these days.
There was turmoil in the cricket world when he castigated Mike Procter for his role as match referee in the infamous high tension India-Australia series, but it didn’t end there. He went on to call England and Australia ‘dinosaurs who cannot open their eyes and see the reality.’ His best diatribe is reserved for his column, one which is read with great gusto across the cricket world. In the same dinosaur column, he wrote, “The cricketing world has found that India is no longer a diffident voice but a confident one that knows what is good for its cricket and will strive to get what it wants.” Finally push came to shove and his role as cricket commentator and columnist meant that he had to give up his chairmanship of the ICC Cricket Committee due to conflict of interests. In many ways, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has used Gavaskar as an effective B Team, a beach head which lands and destroys enemy lines. He is also the face of India’s new found aggression in cricket politik, tough and unrelenting, he delivers the kayo punches with his writing and verbal.
In my childhood, I would revere the man. I thought he could do no wrong, that he could walk on water and if Gavaskar would get out, India would fold up. Yes, in many ways that was true for he was the cornerstone of the Indian batting line. Which is not to undermine the stature or greatness of Gundappa Vishwanath or Dilip Vengsarkar later, but the truth is that SMG was the first among equals for sheer tenacity and consistency. I am going to throw an amazing, yet significant factoid in your face – Sachin Tendulkar has never aggregated over 500 runs in a series against any Test playing nation in 20 years of international cricket. The closest that he has come was in the last series against Australia Down Under when he smashed two big hundreds. I have lost count of the number of times Gavaskar scored 500 or more in a series. Or the number of centuries he scored against the West Indies at home and in the Caribbean.
It was said that Gavaskar played for himself and records. But really, Gavaskar played because his and his country’s life depended on him. He was dour in defence, smart and minimalist in his strokeplay, governed by a massive hunger for scoring runs and always battling the best fast bowlers in the world in eyeball to eyeball confrontations. He was impervious to all that was around him, consumed by the fire and drive to amass runs. A low centre of gravity because of his short stature enabled him to balance better, use the depth of the crease purposefully and generally play in the V in front of the wicket. I remember the day at Kanpur when a Malcolm Marshall thunderbolt stunned him and the restive crowd in Kanpur, as his bat was wrenched out of his grip. I think it was 1983 and the series after India’s historic World Cup win. The West Indies were looking for retribution. The very next Test at Kotla saw Sunny Gavaskar play the attacking innings of his life. He displayed a mien, hitherto not seen. He hooked and cut with complete disdain to score a fabulous hundred. Against the same opponent, he scored another quickfire 90 on a wearing wicket at Ahmedabad. I am not going to recount Gavaskar’s knocks here. I am making a short point – Sunil Gavaskar knows his cricket, he understands its nuances and is a well known thinker of the game. And he was one of the best players of fast bowling the world has ever seen.
If Gavaskar has a point of view on JB and his tactics, then so be it. We need to give Gavaskar space and respect in equal measure. For Shahrukh Khan to join issue with SMG on cricket is a bit of a travesty. It is unbecoming of SRK. I can understand SRLK taking on Aamir Khan and vice versa, because they belong to the same competitive set and there is always some jostling amongst stars of repute for various reasons. But for SRK to launch into SMG is uncalled for. Let him buy a team instead, he says. I am the owner of my team and I will do as I please and attempt whatever I think is right, he adds. Let me remind readers that at the core of the problem is SRK-JB’s wish to have multiple captains for the Knight Riders. Something that obviously impacts last season’s skipper Saurav Ganguly.
I can understand Bishan Bedi describing Gavaskar as the most destructive influence on Indian cricket. But that is due to an old animus between the two which saw the Indian captaincy changing hands. Bedi became captain of India before Gavaskar, though Gavaskar led India to a Test win against New Zealand when Bedi was injured. When Pakistan batted India out of the 1978 series, Gavaskar became captain. Anyway that is another story, not meant for this treatise.Though Gavaskar was on the selection panel that selected Greg Chappell as Indian coach, he criticised Chappell roundly and is said to have even instigated players to rebel against him on the ill fated tour of Zimbabwe in 2005. Even earlier he wrote in his popular column of how the players had abused John Wright when he was coach.In 2004, he was made batting consultant of the side, but as Bedi once famously said Gavaskar likes power without accountability. His role as National Cricket Academy chairman is also under a cloud.
A voluble and trenchant critic of anything and everything is what Gavaskar has become in the recent past. In July, he will be 60. People claim that he scuppered Dave Whatmore’s chances of becoming India coach by propping up light weight John Emburey’s candidature. Stories abound about his extra constitutional power in the corridors of Indian cricket. On India’s last tour of Australia he went for match referee Mike Procter’s jugular saying that the South African had given the Monkeygate episode a racial overtone. When Australia played an acrimonous one day series in India in October 2007, Gavaskar once again fulminated against match referee Chris Broad. Gavaskar has rightly grouched about two sets of rules – for Indian and opposition players – and the fact that match referees don’t tar both sides and their players with the same brush. Strangely Indians get the wrong end of the stick.
Mr Tough as Nails Gavaskar who gave no quarter nor asked for one is opening too many fronts. He is taking on too many people all the time. I have enormous respect for the man – both my books on cricket have revolved his greatness and shown what a great servant of Indian cricket he has been over the years. I want him to stand up and land haymakers on the chin of the white cricketers – past and present. I want him to boldly air his opinion on the state of the game, its inadequacies, deficiencies in the cricketing system, but he should steer clear of petty politics and stay aloof of indulging in cricket board machinations.
Gavaskar needs to be given his due place in the sun. His gargantuan reputation may have marred Ravi Shastri’s chances at getting a longer shot at Indian captaincy. It is said that the board was so much (it still is) in awe of Gavaskar that it hated the very possibility of another tough negotiator as Indian captain. Urbane and sophisticated, Gavaskar in many ways paved the way for Shastri’s anointment. But the board didn’t want another power centre. The equally astute Shastri captained India only once, winning the game against West Indies as Narender Hirwani bagged 16 wickets on debut on a bunsen burner. Shastri modelled himself on Gavaskar, strong minded, yet reserved. He too was tough, played his cricket in an unyielding manner, followed SMG as a commentator and columnist. He never got along with his captain Mohd Azharuddin, In fact, they never spoke to one another. Chairman of selection committee the late Naren Tamhane had to call both to Bombay House (Tata headquarters) and bring about a rapprochement before India undertook an arduous tour of Australia in the early 1990s.
