Little Master retraces his life in this exclusive interview

One of the strongest childhood images for a generation was Sunil Gavaskar, frozen in his stance, having left the ball alone, bat pointing down the pitch, holding the stare of a glaring fast bowler. Since then he has been an earnest leader,  trenchant columnist, decisive official and all-round icon. Thankfully, he didn’t shoulder arms when the HT asked him a few questions on his 60th birthday.

When you started, where did the self-belief come from and what made your success possible?

To be honest, I did not have plenty of self-belief when I made my debut. But I was optimistically confident and maybe that helped me. The fact that I was an opening batsman from schooldays helped me enormously in developing a method to combat attacks. The fact that I had to wait so long to play for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy made me determined, and I think determination and concentration were the key.

No Indian can forget the 1983 World Cup and the 1985 World Championship of Cricket.

Yes, the 1983 World Cup win is the greatest win in Indian cricket. To be a part of that is really huge. The 1983 win made 1985 easier because we had the belief that we could beat anybody anywhere.

Like you, Kapil Dev was a pillar of Indian cricket. A word on Kapil the cricketer, the person and your relationship.

Kapil was the greatest match-winner in Indian cricket. He could turn the match around with bat or ball. I have rarely seen anybody with such natural athleticism. He would have been a champion in any sport that he had chosen. He is also instrumental for all the new-ball bowlers we have today. It was only after youngsters saw what he did that made them take up quick bowling in a country that was keen, till then, only on batsmen and spinners.

As a person he has matured fabulously from the uncertain and diffident youngster to the man of the world that he is now today. Contrary to public perception, we got along very well during our playing days and now he is one of the handful of cricketers (that can be counted on fingers of one hand) who I call on their birthday. He calls me too.

Looking back, how do you view the 1981 Melbourne walkout?

I regretted doing that. Even today I feel that, as the captain, despite the abusive provocation, I should have kept my cool. It wasn’t the bad decision but the abuse that I got when I was making my way to the pavilion that made me turn back and ask Chetan (Chauhan) to leave with me.

If the abuse hadn’t happened, I would’ve carried on to the dressing room and taken my anger at the wrong decision in there. After all, it wasn’t the first time I had received a bad decision, or the last.

You are taught at an early age to accept the umpire’s decision and that’s exactly what I would have done. What you aren’t taught, however, is how to deal with abuses.

It must’ve been tough for Rohan to grow up in cricket with the famous surname. How do you view his achievements?

Yes, he had to grow up with a surname which can be a huge burden. But more than that, he had to contend with people who were trying to get even with his father for perceived slights, imaginary or otherwise. Considering all that, he didn’t do badly at all. The other problem was that his father used up all the luck, so he didn’t have much when it came to close decisions, which could have made a difference.

How genuine are the fears of T20 cricket swamping other forms of the game?

Test cricket has been around for more than a century. When 50-over cricket came in, doomsayers predicted the death of Tests. But the 50-over game made Tests more aggressive, and galvanised Test cricket. Hardly a Test is drawn today. Just like ODIs energised Test cricket, T20 will energise the 50-over game.

Source : Hindustan Times