The Pakistan cricket tour of India in 1987 was one of the most hyped test series between the two nations. The first four test matches ended in draws, and by the time the teams reached Bangalore’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium for the fifth, it was widely expected that it would also end in a draw. Pakistan batted first and the team bundled out for 116. The Chinnaswamy wicket turned out to be a rank turner. Maninder Singh spun the ball as never before and got 7 for 27. It took him just 19 overs to dismiss the Pakistani batting line-up. When India batted, the two Pakistani spinners came into play—Iqbal Qasim and Tauseef Ahmed. India collapsed too – all out for 145. In its second innings, Pakistan batted better, with minor but important contributions from captain Imran Khan, Ramiz Raja, and keeper Saleem Yousuf. India now had to chase 220-odd runs, and one man had the job to give India a good start – Sunil Gavaskar.
That fifth test match was testament to Sunil ‘Sunny’ Gavaskar’s genius — one of the greatest opening batsmen of all time.
A lesson on how to bat on unplayable wicket
By the time Sunil started his second innings, the wicket at the Chinnaswamy stadium had become unplayable. Pakistani spinners Tauseef Ahmed and Iqbal Qasim were turning the ball square. To make matters worse, the wicket had tremendous bounce as well. One delivery from Tauseef rose so high that Gavaskar had to leave it as if it was a bouncer from a fast bowler. On another occasion, Gavaskar hit an immaculate on-drive only for us spectators to see a puff of dust at the wicket after he had finished playing his stroke. The great Pakistani commentator Chishty Mujahid remarked that perhaps there is no other batsman in the world who could have played that stroke better on an adverse wicket. Every ball had become a potential wicket-taking ball by then, but not for Gavaskar.
Imran Khan had all his fielders close in because every third ball was taking the edge, or hitting the glove. Yet, Sunil Gavaskar was cover driving the spinning ball as if the wicket was a batting paradise. The wily Iqbal Qasim was shocked when Gavaskar hit a straight drive to a ball that had pitched outside the off stump. Sunil had waited for the ball to finish its entire course and then played it late behind the bowler — it was a four. Imran Khan tried every trick to unsettle Gavaskar. The great Wasim Akram was brought back but the Indian batsman was unfazed. It was not as if Sunny was not impacted by the difficult wicket. Iconic Hindi commentator Sushil Doshi remarked that the wicket was turning so much that even the great Gavaskar was mistiming his strokes. Yet he carried on as only he could to the point when English commentator Anupam Gulati concluded that Gavaskar had managed to put the entire Pakistan team under pressure.
By the time Gavaskar reached 75, India had lost half its side for 147 and Sunil had scored half of his team’s total. The master batsman had assessed the pitch so quickly and so correctly that he knew it would be useful to play his strokes late behind the wicket rather than driving in front of it. Imran Khan didn’t have many runs to play with. Gavaskar drove on an impossible wicket that forced Khan to remove the slips and strengthen the midfield. As soon as the slips were gone, Gavaskar began repeatedly late-cutting Tauseef to the third man and gathering precious runs for India. To be able to play middle shots on an unplayable wicket required a level of batsmanship that only Gavaskar could have. By the time he reached the 90s, he alone was standing between a first series win for Pakistan on Indian soil. Sunil reached 96 and as the Indian crowd waited with bated breath for his hundred, he got a ball from Iqbal Qasim that not only spun but bounced incredibly to take his glove — the slips did the rest. Gavaskar was out.
His last test innings was a lesson on how to bat on a wicket turning square and bouncing inconsistently.
It was not the first time Sunil Gavaskar had waged a solitary battle to take his team close to victory. In 1979, when India toured England, the fourth test match was played at the Oval. England set India a target of 438 runs in the fourth innings. Sunil Gavaskar scored a masterly 221 and brought his team a few runs close to an impossible victory. If only the lower middle order had shown more urgency, India would have chased 400-plus on English soil to win the test match.
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Gavaskar faced star bowlers
Consider the quality of bowling that Gavaskar faced in his career.
In his era, Australia had Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thompson. England had Ian Botham, Bob Willis and John Emburey. New Zealand had Richard Hadlee. In Pakistan, there was Imran Khan, Sarfaraz Nawaz, Abdul Qadir and a young Wasim Akram. Above all, the West Indies had a pace attack comprising of the most fearsome fast bowlers in the history of the game. Gavaskar had to encounter the agility of Malcolm Marshall, the skill of Andy Roberts, the accuracy of Joel Garner and the sheer speed of Michael Holding. Sunil’s 13 centuries against the West Indies makes him not just one of the greatest of his era, but one of the best batsman ever to play the game. Let us not forget that Gavaskar scored all his runs as an opener when the fast bowlers are fresh and at their best. Sunil Gavaskar had never faced such fast bowling in domestic cricket.
But India had several worthy titans in bowling.
Gavaskar had to tackle EAS Prasanna and BS Chandrasekhar when he played against Karnataka. Against Delhi, he encountered one of the best left-arm slow-bowlers in the form of Bishan Bedi, and while playing against Tamil Nadu, Gavaskar was up against Srinivas Venkataraghavan. Against tiny Haryana, he had to find a way to score against the mighty Kapil Dev and the evergreen spin wizard Rajinder Goel. Perhaps no other batsman in the history of cricket faced such an array of world-class bowlers. Add to that the fact that Gavaskar did not have the advantage that a Gordon Greenidge had in the form of a Desmond Haynes. For most of his career, Gavaskar fought a lone battle at the top to overcome great bowlers.
In a test match at Chepauk against the mighty West Indies in 1983, Gavaskar decided to give himself some relief and luxury by not opening the batting. When he came to bat, the Indian scorecard still read a zero! It prompted the great Vivian Richards to tell Gavaskar, “No matter where you bat, the scorecard still reads zero.”
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Players play as they wish
Gavaskar knew that apart from his fellow Mumbai batsman Dilip Vengsarkar and his great brother-in-law GR Vishwanath, he could not rely on the Indian lower middle order to consistently put up big scores. This made him a cautious batsman. However, when he wished, he could be a devastating batsman as found out by Malcom Marshall and Michael Holding at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi during the second test of the 1983 West Indies tour of India.
Gavaskar scored 121 at almost a run a ball with two sixes and 15 fours. My late father who had no interest in cricket had reluctantly agreed to take me to watch this test at the Kotla. I had convinced him that it was a once-in-a-life opportunity to watch one of the most solid defensive batsmen ever to play the game. I had cautioned my father not to expect fireworks from Sunny but instead admire his defensive batting technique. On that October morning Gavaskar made me look like an utter fool in front of my father. My father was convinced that I have no knowledge of cricket and no clue about the batting style of Gavaskar. It was a cricketing lesson I learned very early in life. Great batsmen can play as they wish. This is exactly what Gavaskar did in a crucial ODI World Cup match against New Zealand. It was the month of October again when Sunil scored a century in 85 balls. India needed to chase 221 in 40-odd overs to avoid the discomfort of playing the semi-final in Pakistan. Gavaskar’s knock ensured that India stayed at home to play their semi-final in their own backyard.
After this blazing knock by Sunil Gavaskar, I never discussed cricket with my father ever again. The word great is often misused. Certainly not in the case of Sunil Manohar Gavaskar. The most assured batsman I have ever seen.
Kush Singh @singhkb is the founder of The Cricket Curry Tour Company. Views are personal.