To Mr Gavaskar, with love

Sunil Gavaskar

Respected Sunil Gavaskar,

First of all, I take this opportunity to congratulate you on being nominated as the BCCI chief by the Supreme Court of India. As you have already made it clear, it indeed must be an honour to adhere to the directives of the land’s highest court.

I am a fan of the generation of the Sachin Tendulkars and the Sourav Gangulys. I was yet to celebrate my second birthday when you decided to hang up your boots as a cricketer in November 1987, but still yours was one of the first cricketing names to be engraved in my little brain. In the 90s, your name was back among the most preferred dinner table conversations for one primary reason: Was Sachin Tendulkar better than you? However, as I grew older, I realised it was not correct to compare people of two different eras.

My introduction to India’s cricketing history was through your very own Sunny Days, which was gifted to me by my parents. Although I had already become a diehard Tendulkar fan by then, your story still seemed fascinating to me, and slowly I became one of your countless fans, too. It was in 1996 that I first got a chance to see you at the Sahar international airport, Bombay. To say that I was overawed to see you would be an understatement.

Listening to your commentary, slowly, I came to the conclusion that you were a man who was not afraid to defend India, unlike many of your Indian co-commentators. At the same time, you did not show mercy on the team’s poor performances. I still remember how you were once furious with the running between the wickets of a senior Indian batsman of the 90s, even going on to say on air that things like ‘grounding the bat’ while running are taught at school-level. The bluntness of the comment did surprise me, but later on I learnt that your comments would always be as straight as your straight drives once used to be.

Who would know it better than you that those were the days when India or the BCCI was not a powerhouse in cricket. Many say that you are the man responsible for bringing money into the life of Indian cricketers: no mean task, given the condition of the Indian economy in your playing days. What you have done for Indian cricket is beyond comparisons.

Now that you have been given another task to lead the BCCI in these turbulent times, I hope that you create a benchmark here, as well. Given the state of affairs in the BCCI, it is not an easy ask by any stretch of imaginations, but so was facing the Caribbean quicks of the 70s without a helmet. You are a man who had the guts to walk off the field to protest poor umpiring in Australia; I am sure that wouldn’t have been easy, either. Your farsightedness and impeccable judgement of the game even after your retirement is best exemplified by the following comment on a young Sachin Tendulkar in 1990: “Here is a name that may even make you forget Gavaskar”.

I wish you all the best for your endeavours as the BCCI chief and hope that you come out on top cleaning the mess that the Board has entangled itself in. We the Indian fans are once again looking up to their original ‘little master’, and I am sure you will not disappoint us. May god give you all the strength in the world in what must be your pursuit to get back the Sunny Days in Indian cricket.

Yours truly,

An Indian Cricket Fan