38 years since the legendary Sunil Gavaskar played his final Test for India, the Little Master recalls memories of that match against Pakistan and a lot more.
Heading into the rest day – it once used to be a regular feature in Test cricket – of the final encounter, the match, indeed the series, was tantalisingly poised. India and Pakistan were level after four preceding stalemates and on the rest day after the third day’s play, everyone knew that the fate of the series rested on strong, unyielding shoulders on which he had carried his country’s batting for 16 years.
Chasing 221 for victory, India had gone to stumps on day three at 99 for four. In the middle were Mohammad Azharuddin, on seven, and an opener who, in the preceding game in Ahmedabad, had become the first batter in Test history to complete 10,000 runs. Sunil Gavaskar, the little master, was unbeaten on 51; it was on him that the country banked to score a majority of the 122 more runs required for victory.
Not too many outside the immediate confines of the team knew that Gavaskar was playing his last Test match, that he would walk away into the Test sunset after the final showdown at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium. He was 37, there weren’t any more peaks to conquer and he wasn’t retiring from international cricket just yet; that would come after the 50-over World Cup later that year, which India jointly hosted, for the first time, alongside Pakistan.
“Two reasons chiefly,” Gavaskar tells Hindustan Times of why he didn’t make a big retirement announcement before the start of the game. “It was the last Test match of the series where all the previous games were drawn, so it was a crucial game and I didn’t want any distractions for the team from the job at hand, which was to beat Pakistan and win the series.
“The other reason was that there was the MCC Bicentenary ‘Test’ later in the year (between Marylebone Cricket Club and a Rest of the World XI at Lord’s in August) and I thought they would not consider a retired player for selection in the Rest of the World team.” Just for the record, Gavaskar did play for Rest of the World and amassed 188, the highest individual tally of a tall-scoring draw.
The rest day fell on a Monday – 16 March 1987. Tuesday was officially the penultimate day of the Test but realistically, unless the weather intervened – which it didn’t – the match wouldn’t go to the final day. “If I remember rightly, the rest day was also Holi and players from both teams played it heartily with each other,” Gavaskar recalls. “I had locked myself in the room because I didn’t want to risk the colour going into the eyes (typical attention to detail) and affecting my batting the next day. (By then) the team was aware of my intention to stop playing, so there was no need to tell them again.”
All through his career, Gavaskar was known for his fierce concentration and the remarkable ability to stay focussed single-mindedly on the job at hand. Therefore, it is no surprise to hear him say that heading into the game, he had no baggage of impending retirement playing on his mind, no mental reels on loop playing out his illustrious 16-year career. “There were no other thoughts apart from getting mentally ready for the Test match,” he says. “The pitch looked dry and would help spinners from day one, is what we thought and that’s how it turned out. We fancied our chances, but it was important to bat first, which didn’t happen as Imran Khan won the toss.”
Imran Khan’s influence in delaying Sunil Gavaskar retirement
Imran was obliquely responsible for Gavaskar actually playing this series, because the great man was originally planning to retire at the end of the tour of England in June-July 1986. “I would have probably ended up with 9000-plus runs as I was planning to call it quits after the 1986 Test series in England,” Gavaskar notes. “As it happened, the first Test at Lord’s ended early (early in the second session on day five) with our (five-wicket) win. I had gone out for lunch with Imran the next day and told him of my intention to retire after the series. He said I shouldn’t do that as Pakistan was to tour India early next year and he wanted to beat India in India with me being part of the Indian team, otherwise the win would feel hollow for him. So, I held on.”
Between July 1986 and February 1987, when the first Test against Pakistan was played in Chennai, India had six home Tests. “There were series against Australia and Sri Lanka at home before the Pakistan tour, which helped me get closer to the 10k mark,” Gavaskar says. Those six Tests produced two centuries (including a massive 176 against Sri Lanka in Kanpur), 90 in the second innings of the first Test against Australia in Chennai (which played a huge part in only the second ‘tie’ in Test history) and a further score of 74 in a mere seven innings. All of this meant when the Pakistan series started, Gavaskar had 9827 runs, needing just 173 to keep his tryst with history.
Sunil Gavaskar was as flamboyant as ever even during his final year in international cricket(Getty)
At the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera in the fourth Test, when he nudged off-spinner Faqih behind point, Gavaskar went where no man had gone before, raising his bat in celebration as he completed the single. It was Faqih’s only Test of the tour and one of just five Tests in seven and a half years, but he had etched his place in the record books.
“It was a surreal feeling to get to 10,000 runs in Test cricket,” the first occupant of Mt 10K says. “When I started my India career, I would have been happy with 1000 runs, for that would mean I didn’t make a fool of myself in the international arena. 10k was super unbelievable.” Unprecedented, too. Fourteen other batters have since followed the trend-setter to that milestone but like Edmund Hillary and Mt Everest, Sunil Gavaskar was the first, and therefore the foremost, to Mt 10K.
Back to the Bengaluru Test. Pakistan left out ace leg-spinner Abdul Qadir and Faqih and brought in Tauseef Ahmed, the off-spinner, and Saleem Jaffar, the left-arm pace bowler. The attack was formidable – Imran, Wasim Akram, Jaffar, Tauseef and experienced left-arm spinner Iqbal Qasim. The last two turned out to be Pakistan’s heroes in Bengaluru, each finishing with nine wickets for the match.
Ask Gavaskar if he was surprised that Qadir didn’t play the decider, and he replies, “There’s a story why Qadir was left out and the left arm pacer, Saleem Jaffar, was played. He (Jaffar) didn’t bowl a single over in the game. That story is not for publication as yet. No hanky panky, I can assure you, but just tactical gamesmanship that led to Qadir’s omission and Saleem Jaffar playing .”
The Test itself started off brilliantly for the home side, left-arm spinner Maninder Singh taking seven for 27 to send the visitors crashing to 116 all out on the first afternoon. The consensus was that the track would get more and more difficult to bat on and therefore India needed to open up as big a lead as they could when they batted a first time. India looked on course to take a decisive advantage at 102 for three when Azhar’s dismissal triggered a sensational collapse orchestrated by Qasim. India lost seven for 43, Qasim picking up five of those, and settled for a lead of 29, handy but not deal-breaking.
Pakistan gave a far better account of themselves in the second innings with consistent contributions through a rejigged batting order topped off by wicketkeeper Saleem Yousuf’s unbeaten 41 from No. 9; Yousuf and Tauseef added 51 for the ninth wicket, which proved the difference in the final analysis. Maninder disappointed in the second innings, finishing with three for 99 from 43.5 overs, turning the ball a mile and beating the bat of the right-handers, of whom Pakistan had six in their top seven.
On the rest day, an encounter with Bishan Bedi helped Tauseef and Qasim no end. The ace left-arm spinner spoke of how Maninder was imparting even more ‘break’ on an already breaking surface, obliquely referencing the value of not trying to do too much, a lesson that the two Pakistani spinners took to heart.
Gavaskar was always going to be the key wicket as far as Pakistan were concerned, and their worst fears came true with the great opener produced a masterclass in the art of defensive batting on a crumbling surface. Only Azhar (26) of the other ten batters topped 20; Gavaskar played one of the great knocks of all time, 96 off 264 deliveries in a little under five and a half hours, staving off the twin spin threats and the constant chirping from silly point of streetfighter Javed Miandad.
After the dust had settled, Miandad apologised for the sledges and was astonished when Gavaskar told him that he had hardly heard a word of what was said. Miandad was now aghast – not because his words hadn’t gotten through, but apparently because he had apologised for ‘no reason.’
“I had gone into a trance where nothing mattered excepting the ball that was being bowled,” Gavaskar says, simply, when you ask him how he remained unaffected by the constant verbals. “So I heard things, but they didn’t register in my mental landscape.”
During that innings on a minefield where the ball developed a mind of its own, one of the more staggering images seared in memory is of Gavaskar playing forward to off-spinner Tauseef and the ball spitting off a length to become a ‘bouncer’. Calmly, as he dropped his wrists, the master craftsman kept his eyes firmly on the ball and watched it all the way into Yousuf’s gloves. “I have very little recollection of that innings probably because I just went into a trance while batting,” Gavaskar reiterates. “(But) yes, that delivery is one of the two I remember clearly. The ball bounced so suddenly but I managed to sway out of the way at the last moment.”
When Gavaskar was eventually ruled out – he deftly sidesteps the ‘You weren’t really out, were you?’ question – India still needed 41 for victory with only two wickets left. Roger Binny stonewalled for a bit before being last man out, caught behind off Tauseef, leaving Pakistan victors by 16 runs. Gavaskar was named the Player of the Match, but that brought him no joy. “Ask any player and he will tell you that if the team loses, your own individual performance is not at all enjoyable.”
There was, Gavaskar is clear, not even the slightest second thought on retirement, no temptation to postpone that decision despite his extraordinary heroics. “I was thinking of quitting about nine months earlier, so I never ever looked back on the decision to stop playing after that Test match,” he reasons, then reflects on when he knew the time was right for him to call it a day. “The signs for me were looking at the clock while fielding and thinking ‘Oh no, another 11 minutes to teatime’ or ‘Oh heck, another six minutes before the close of play’. In the one-day format, it was seeing the scoreboard and thinking another five overs of fielding and so on. I loved being on the field, and when the time and overs started to drag for me was the sign that it was time to stop.”
As we wind down, the request to sum up his 16 years at the highest level brings a typically succinct but emotional and heartfelt response. “I was privileged and honoured to play for India, a dream that millions of kids have and I too did,” he begins. “To be part of so many wonderful memories is a blessing indeed. I also had the privilege of playing with and against the greatest names in the game. These memories will forever be with me, along with the other incredible memories of the boys after me bringing laurels and glory to the country with their wonderful performances.
“I am what I am because of Indian cricket, with Mumbai cricket being my mother. I am forever indebted for the opportunities that I have got and I am getting even today to watch the new stars and see the sport evolve; that’s simply due to this game called cricket.
“Above all, of course, is the spontaneous love and affection of the Indian cricket lovers all over the world. That, and my family, is my greatest wealth.
“I know that I am in the departure lounge, awaiting the final call, for the one thing you can’t do is to carry the bat in the game of life,” Gavaskar says, matter-of-factly. “But while I await that, I also dream of dancing at more World Cup wins by our super-talented boys.” ICYMI, google Dubai plus Sunil Gavaskar plus Champions Trophy final.
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