Ritesh Misra, Surat, 11 February 2024
Sunil Gavaskar is popularly called Sunny bhai. For many he is easily the best ever test batsman from India (ahead of even Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid). At a time when India had a weak batting line up and opposition bowlers were used to running through the Indian batting line up like knife through butter, he used to bat at a world class level.
Sunny bhai made his debut in test cricket at Port of Spain in the 1971 series, which India won 1-0 and in which he announced himself to the world of cricket by scoring 774 runs in the series. The great man ended up scoring 10,122 runs in test cricket with 34 tons at an astonishing average of 51.12. For an opener, playing against amazing attacks, it is an unreal achievement.
The great man is great not just due to his cricketing achievements but also due to the way he carries himself, his level of fitness at 70 plus and the messages he conveys to us through his commentary, newspaper articles, and his interviews.
I recollect some of my memorable personal interactions with him. The common factor in all these interactions is his amazing sense of humour. All these interactions have given some life lessons which I will like to share with you.
The city was Bhubaneshwar and the year was 1982. The Indian team had an ODI at the picturesque Barabati Stadium, Cuttack on 27th January and was staying at a Bhubaneswar hotel. I was in class 6 and had gone to the team hotel where I saw Sunny Bhai surrounded by many fans wanting his autograph. Impulsively, I ran forward and put my autograph book on top of the others. Sunny bhai said “patience young man, if you dont have patience, how can you be an opening batsman?“. It was a terrific moment. Next day I did go to see the match and it was lovely to see India defeating England by 5 wickets with Sunny bhai scoring 71. It was the 1st ever ODI at Cuttack and we had a big house and I remember 27 relatives had come from all over Odisha and all of us went and saw the match from the galleries (believe me, it is the best place to watch a match, and the most knowledgeable spectators ever are also found there).
Life lesson one – Be Patient.
The 2nd interaction was at a “Legends Club” function in Mumbai. For those unaware, Legends Club is a group of sports lovers who gather on the birthday of 7 legends and a guest speaker who has had personal interaction with the legend comes and gives some personal insights. Sunny Bhai who is one of the 7 legends himself had come as the speaker for another legend, Vinoo Mankad’s birthday function. He regaled the audience with his sense of humour. Interestingly, Sunny Bhai had come late by almost an hour and the audience, especially as most comprised relatively older persons, was getting restive. However, Sunny Bhai made everyone laugh with his first sentence. He had an upset stomach and he started his talk by saying “Sorry friends, as this is a cricket audience you will understand what I mean when I say I was unwell and I was wicketkeeping the whole day!”. The entire audience burst into laughter. He regaled the audience with terrific anecdotes in a witty and wonderful speech. Later, he took questions and he also interacted with everyone after his talk. He also said how he had gone to meet Vinoo Mankad once when he was unwell and he had a book with him to spend the two three hours of waiting before Vinoo would be able to talk with him after getting up from rest. He advised all to have hobbies which would be invaluable as in his words, “an idle mind is a devil’s workshop.”
Life lesson two – Have a hobby.
3rd meet was at Alan Wilkins book launch at Mumbai. The book was “Easier said than done – a life in sport” and Sunny bhai launched it along with many other cricketers like Sangakkara, Anil Kumble, Brett Lee, Darren Sammy, Graeme Smith, and Stephen Fleming. Wilkins, before injury stopped him, was a good bowler who got Viv Richards out 4 times, and Zaheer Abbas and Sunny Gavaskar out twice each. He then shifted to broadcasting. The modest Sunny bhai in the foreword of the book says that Alan Wilkins had made him his “bunny“. The two friends had a good laugh about it during the launch.
For the Alan Wilkins event, Sunny Bhai had come early and so had I. That was the main reason I got a chance to interact with him for quite some time. I told him about my meeting with him as a 12 year and how he had asked me to be patient. Sunny bhai had a hearty laugh and said “did I say that? Nice of you to remember something that I said 36 years back!“ Then with a pause he said ”So, did u become an opening batsman?” I replied that like all Indians I too played cricket and a bit of club, inter-schools and inter-college cricket but then became an IRS officer and a tax administrator. The witty Sunny bhai immediately shot back, “Patience is required there as well, otherwise taxpayers will suffer.”
Life lesson three – Have a sense of humour always.
The 4th meeting was at Mumbai Airport on one of the worst days for passengers flying Air-India worldwide. Due to the server crash for 6 hours, flights were delayed and more importantly passengers could not be informed. So they ended up spending the whole day at the airport, waiting for hours. I saw the great Sunil Gavaskar waiting as well, along with Brett Lee, and he was quite relaxed, unperturbed, and unruffled. His flight to Jaipur which was originally at 1030 hours took off at 1730 hours and he had been waiting for hours since, like thousands of passengers, he too had no information and had come prepared for the original timing. I asked him, ”Sunny bhai, how are you so relaxed though you are waiting for seven hours?” He replied, “Is the flight timing and takeoff in my control? No. Then why should I allow it to upset me and affect my health and peace of mind?” With a smile, he then moved on to board the aircraft. The words sunk in deep. What a philosophy! No wonder he had the patience and courage to face the best bowlers in the world and come out successful.
Life lesson four – When things are not in your control, do not allow it to affect you.
I met the great man recently during the 40th anniversary celebrations of the 1983 World Cup win. As always, he charmed all with his wit, humour, and presence of mind. I told him about the 4 meetings and the life-lessons and he listened patiently with a smile on his face. One of the world’s greatest openers ever, he always clean bowled me!
Sunny Bhai, you are one of India’s biggest icons. Love and regards!
