Imran Khan’s dream of beating India away made me postpone retirement, reveals Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar, in an interview, has put an end to the rumors regarding the story of his retirement by revealing what conspired between Imran Khan and him that made him retire after the series against Pakistan. He also reminisced about his cricketing days and discussed how the game has changed.
One of the greatest batsmen the world has ever seen, Sunil Gavaskar had retired from the gentleman’s game in 1987 with his final Test series ending in a narrow defeat to Pakistan. Considering he had scored multiple fifties in the series and had almost driven India to victory in the only game that Pakistan won, it was pretty evident the little master was more than fit to continue playing on the international stage. Thus, stories have been circulated that Imran Khan had asked him to listen to his heart and retire but Gavaskar has finally expressed the real story.
“That’s a totally made-up story like so many others about me. Fact is during the India tour of England in 1986, Imran and I had lunch where I told him that I was planning to retire at the end of that tour. He said to me that I shouldn’t do it as Pakistan was due to tour India the following February. He said his ambition was to beat India in India and it wouldn’t be the same if I wasn’t in the Indian team then. I told him then that if the Pakistan tour was not announced by the time the England tour ended I would retire at the end of the tour. It was announced within a fortnight so I postponed the retirement,” Gavaskar said in an exclusive interview with the Hindustan Times.
Another off-field issue that has been talked about often regarding his career is the power struggle with Kapil Dev. The latter was sacked from the captain’s job and Gavaskar was made the skipper before Kapil was reinstated in a complete mess by the BCCI. There have been multiple rumors of a rift between the two but as is often the case, they have been nothing but conjecture. Â
“Sadly, Indian cricket is full of stories where it’s suited people to try and drive a wedge between players. From Col C.K. Nayudu’s time it has been the practice. Thanks to the PR guys of current cricketers, any such move is nipped in the bud today. For the record for whatever it is worth Kapil and I have always had a mutually respectful relationship. We were always aware that Indian cricket came before anything else,” Gavaskar said on the matter.
Cricket has come a long way from the days of helmets without grills and fierce bowling with no limits. Gone are the days when batsmen used to be scared for their lives when facing balls coming in at a 100 miles per hour given the lack of protection they had. The game, albeit a bit unconsciously, has become a bit more inclined towards the batsmen one could say.
“The protective equipment today is so good that the batsmen are hardly. in physical danger. This is a terrific development as nobody wants to see any serious injury on the field. The best fast bowler I faced was Andy Roberts who had the knack of bowling the unplayable ball even in the 60th over. There were no restrictions on bouncers then, so the length was generally where you were playing off the back foot most of the time. The pitches especially in England, Australia and New Zealand had a fair amount of grass on them,” Gavaskar concluded.