Actor Mithun Chakraborty once played under Sunil Gavaskar against the West Indies and got the wicket of Gordon Greenidge. Gavaskar recommended Arjuna Ranatunga’s name for captaincy to the then Sri Lanka President. A self-confessed Gavaskar fan, virtuoso singer Manna Dey has dedicated a song to the batting great. These are some of the nuggets from “Sunil Gavaskar, Cricket’s Little Master”, a book put together by seasoned cricket journalist Debasish Datta to mark Gavaskar’s 60th birthday. Former England opener Geoffrey Boycott has written the foreword of the book, the theme of which is ’60 years, 100 tributes’. “This book is going to be a treasure-trove about one of the best batsmen cricket has ever seen,” Datta told PTI.
West Indian legend Sir Garfield Sobers penned the first article before others joined in, paying glowing tributes to Gavaskar. The anthology, to be published by Niyogi Books, would shed light on many little known aspects of Gavaskar’s illustrious life, Datta said. Sachin Tendulkar swaps the bat for the pen to elaborate why Gavaskar will always remain his hero. In the book, former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram laments not getting Gavaskar’s wicket in Test cricket, while West Indian legend Vivian Richards elaborates on how the Indian ‘tortured’ the bowlers in the Caribbeans.
Fellow West Indian Andy Roberts claims it was he who had informed Gavaskar about the Calypso written on him, while the actual writer, Lord Relator, also shares his admiration for the Indian. “I would rather call it a bouquet, collecting contributory articles from his family members, boyhood friends, cricketers both past and current, celebrities from other world and renowned cricket scribes from all over the world,” Datta said.
From his family, father Manohar Gavaskar, mother Meenal, son Rohan and brother-in-law Gundappa Viswanath have contributed to the book.
From other walks of life, singer Lata Mangeshkar, tennis player Vijay Amritraj, ace cueist Geet Sethi, former shuttler Prakash Padukone have penned articles.
Some of the legends of the game who paid rich tribute to Gavaskar include David Lloyd, Ian Chappell, Kapil Dev, Hanif Mohammad, Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Glenn Turner, John Wright, Mike Brearley, Ian Botham, Duleep Mendis and Dickie Bird.
BCCI President Shashank Manohar, secretary N Srinivasan and former South Africa Cricket Board chief Ali Bacher also share their admiration for the Indian batting great, first batsman to score 10,000 Test runs.
(साभार : पीटीआई)
