Sunil Gavaskar reminisces when Imran Khan’s ‘challenge’ lured him to rethink his retirement

Sunil Gavaskar is widely regarded as one of greatest Test batsmen in international cricket and played a total of 125 Test matches for India. But even he admitted that playing against Pakistan's World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan was a challenge back in the day. The former Indian opener revealed that he was on the brink of retirement back in 1986 when India was on tour of England but a ‘challenge’ from Imran forced him to reconsider his decision on the same.

“‘You can’t retire now. Pakistan is coming to India next year and I want to beat India in India. If you aren’t part of that team, it won’t be the same. Come on, let’s have one last tilt against each other,’ Imran Khan replied when I told him I planned to retire at the end of the India tour of England.

“I said if the announcement of the tour wasn’t made before the final Test, I would go ahead and announce my retirement from international cricket. The tour was indeed announced in a few days. Pakistan won the last and final Test of that series after the earlier Tests were all drawn and thus beat India for the first time in India,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for TOI.

The cricketer-turned-commentator lavished praise on his counterpart from across the border as he spoke to about Khan’s ‘vision’ during the World Cup 1992, in which the latter lifted the cup as the Pakistan captain for the first time, which still remains the country's only 50-overs World Cup.

“He had a vision before the 1992 World cup started that Pakistan would win the trophy and that’s exactly how it turned out. His belief despite Pakistan’s slow start to the tournament was unshakeable,” Gavaskar added.

Despite the differences between the two nations, Gavaskar was adamant that the Indian public would want to see Khan succeed as Prime Minister of Pakistan as they believed he deserved a chance.

“He is the only Prime Minister of Pakistan who has come to India several times as an ordinary citizen and has interacted not only with the high societal types but also the man on the street who met him as a fan. He should, therefore, be well aware that most Indians would want him to succeed as a Prime Minister and usher in a new era of friendship, and look forward not back,” he wrote.