Sunil Gavaskar, Gary Sobers

Garfield Sobers was the greatest all-rounder of all time. In 93 Tests, he scored 8,032 runs, took 235 wickets and took 109 catches, including some of the finest gems in the slips. But during India’s 1971 tour of the Caribbean, the West Indies maestro was left out Sunil Gavaskar At least three times, thereby inadvertently giving a career boost to the young opening batsman playing his first Test series. Gavaskar, who described Sobers as “the greatest cricketer of all time” in his book ‘Idols’, details those missed opportunities in his autobiography ‘Sunny Days’.He wrote, “I was pleased to see Sobers bowl slower to Holder as I tried to drive him on the backfoot. Sobers fell in this attempt but the ball fell. It was a lucky break.” This opportunity was given when Sunny was 20 years old and he scored 65 runs for the first time. This was the same Test where India registered its first win against the West Indies in Trinidad. In fact, Sobers also had a hand in Gavaskar getting his first century. The opening batsman wrote, “Just as I was nearing my first century, dark clouds started gathering and it started drizzling. However, play continued and on 94 I was caught taking what was probably the easiest catch of all.”Sunny appeared to play forward to a flighted delivery from off-spinner Jack Noriega. Gavaskar wrote, “The ball turned and bounced off my gloves and went to Sobers, who would have taken a dolly if he had been standing there before throwing the ball. But Gary, anticipating my forward defensive stroke, had moved forward.” Sobers missed catching the ball. At the end of the over, Gary stood in front of me and said, ‘Man, why are you chasing me, can’t you find another fielder?’ He had fucked me three times so far and this last one was the easiest of them all.Sunny was out after scoring 116 runs.But the great West Indian player took everything in stride. Gavaskar scored 124 and 220 in the last Test, taking his tally of runs in the series to 774. Sunny wrote, “As I returned to the pavilion, Sobers smiled and tipped my cap.” Both cricketers were in the same team, Rest of the World, against Australia in 1971–72. Sobers’s 254 against Lillee and Company in Melbourne was described by Donald Bradman as “the greatest ever scored since the war”. And yet “the remarkable thing is that he never wore a thigh guard in his life,” Sunny wrote.