Gavaskar- An Indian Countrymen Needed

After 20 years of independence slowly the feel-good factor of the independence was fading away and people were more concerned about the budding problems like poverty, education, lack of job opportunity for the youth and so on. The generation in the 70s was an angry generation who with more options of higher studies could prepare themselves with knowledge but did not have much opportunity in the country to express them.

This is when they related themselves with two young men. One of them was a short, steady guy from Mumbai (then Bombay) and the other one tall, lanky man from Allahabad who played his trade in Mumbai. Sunil Gavaskar and Amitabh Bachchan had a very similar timeline in their career and became the faces of India during the 70’s. 

Sunil Gavaskar

Whereas Bachchan came with the ‘Angry Young man’ image who would protest and fight (at times physically) for justice, Gavaskar was the person who would reach new heights. He would show his fellow Indians that fast bowling could be managed, the deadly West Indies attack could be tamed, the tough Australians could be challenged, the canny Pakistanis could be handled and that gave the country a great belief. 

Obviously, his record is supreme as he was the first player to reach 10,000 runs in test cricket, broke the record of Don Bradman’s 29 century to record 34 test centuries and finished with all sorts of batting records for India and overall. As a captain his record was steady but still, he led India to become the Champion of Champions in Australia during 1985 season. 

In 1987, in one of the most memorable test matches between India and Pakistan on a treacherous pitch, Gavaskar signed off with a brilliant 96 in the second innings. His last first-class match was the Lord’s Bicentenary match a few months later, where among a host of great players he delivered a brilliant 187 and promptly announced his retirement.