Sunil Gavaskar – Playing It As Straight As Ever

Sunil Gavaskar – Playing It As Straight As Ever
In every way, he set the tone for the threads to be picked up and built upon by others.

My idol Sunil Gavaskar turns 63 today, and there is none of the drop in guard that you would associate with an ageing person. It is remarkable that even twenty five years after he retired from international cricket, his passion for the game and his engagement with the sport is as infectious as ever. From an opening batsman, post retirement, he has flowered as a commentator and columnist. In both these roles what has not changed from the days when he held his bat in an elegant stance is the `straight drive`. Even now, he plays it as straight as ever and says it as it is.

My brother and I grew up in a generation which worshipped Gavaskar as India's first true sporting icon. He was also India's first commercial sporting superstar, who showed the way to cricketers how to leverage themselves as a brand and create financial security while still playing. In every way, he set the tone for the threads to be picked up and built upon by others.

It was only in the latter part of his career that we could watch him bat ball by ball, as much of cricket before the TV boom in the early '80s was followed through radio commentary. Avid cricket players in our society compound, we picked up the nuances of Gavaskar's batting through the description meted out by radio commentators. While the commentary was good, the commentators too seemed to get inspired by the way in which he met the fearsome rising ball in front of his nose, or ducked a bouncer, or left a ball alone outside the off stump.

More than the runs that Gavaskar scored, what he brought to the table with his attitude, technique, temperament and class was a pride of being an Indian. He was India's first truly global sporting personality – even though he represented a sport which only few countries indulged in -- and guarded his wicket not just for the hunger of runs, but also for ensuring a fledgling India -- with a weak sporting philosophy and evolving democratic framework -- held its head high on the international stage.

Gavaskar, through his sporting achievements, made Indians believe in themselves. He was the first to go past Don Bradman's 29 test centuries and the first to scale the incredible 10,000-run peak, which is now an accepted benchmark to be recognised as a top batsman. He played in an era when the West Indian fast bowlers brayed for `blood` and not just wickets, and he faced them more with his mind as a protective gear than with a helmet. Concentration formed the cornerstone of his efforts at the crease. Though more talented as a batsman than what he allowed the world to see, he etched out risky strokes so that his team, which depended heavily on him at the top of the order, did not have to suffer.

The importance of the legend and legacy of Sunil Gavaskar can be understood from the fact that it took India a number of years to find a stable opening test batting pair. The value he brought to the art of batting is a legacy in itself, which was later mirrored more by Rahul Dravid than anybody else. The classical nature of Gavaskar's batsmanship is sorely missed by connoisseurs of cricket, and by those who learnt the fineprint of batting from the way the legend operated at the crease.

The greatest aspect of Gavaskar's craft was that batting became synonymous with him and he became synonymous with the word copybook. The copybook nature of batsmanship is what will put India back on top of the test rankings, and nobody knows this better than Gavaskar himself.

Happy Birthday Sir! And wish you many, many more years of health, wealth and prosperity, as well as service to Indian cricket.

Thank You Mr Gavaskar.