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Current Indian team is fulfilling dreams I could not, says Sunil Gavaskar

“What Kohli and his boys have done is amazing. Such a run of Test wins is amazing. They are fulfilling my dreams and I am happy to get the chance to witness them from the other side.” - Sunil Gavaskar,

© Hundred Percent PR
VSS Laxman and Sunil Gavaskar attend a sport lit fest © Hundred Percent PR

Pune: Indian cricket teams from several eras under different captains have achieved some memorable wins over the years, but what Virat Kohli and his team has achieved is something like a dream come true for Sunil Gavaskar.  Saving many a Test matches for India had put him among the all time greats, but winning tests one after another was an unfulfilled wish for the Little Master, who speaking at the Xolo SporTale, sport themed literary festival here today, confessed that Virat Kohli’s team is realising his unfulfilled dream. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs Australia, 1st Test at Pune

“What Kohli and his boys have done is amazing. Such a run of Test wins is amazing. They are fulfilling my dreams and I am happy to get the chance to witness them from the other side,” said Gavaskar, who has been a television commentator and writer ever since he retired from active cricket.

At a session “Celebrating Sunny Days”, the 40th anniversary of his landmark book, Gavaskar was in conversation with former India cricket VVS Laxman at the Sports Literary Festival Xolo Sportale, on Wednesday.

Touching upon several topics from Test cricket to the current fad of T20 cricket to the individuals he played against and how he was treated on field by various opposition bowlers, Gavaskar, an opening batsman during his playing days said that it was only when Virender Sehwag began playing for the country he could see that boy from Nazafgarh hitting the ball the way he always wanted to but could not.

“I always wanted to hit straight six on the first ball of a Test match. I could do that only once, but Sehwag did that with regularity. He was a class batsman with guts in his batting,” said Gavaskar.

While many would blame T20 cricket to have spoiled the way cricket is played today, Gavaskar said that “in fact T20 has done some fantastic things for the sport and in many ways and raised the profile of the game.”

“T20 offers action all the way through the match, but Test cricket still I believe is the ultimate form to judge a playe. T20 has energized One-Day cricket and One-Day cricket in turn has energized Test cricket. The whole game of cricket has changed for better with whole new dimension added to cricket. Now more runs are being scored and there is action all the time,” said Gavaskar.

The former captain was not a great proponent of Day-Night Pink Ball Test cricket, but he added a rider saying if dew factor could be controlled then he would totally support it. “It will be fantastic way to play Test cricket if there is no dew factor,” said Gavaskar.

Describing winning the 1983 World Cup in England as the best moment of his career, Gavaskar showered praises on his captain Kapil Dev saying he was an incredible captain. “The way he bowled on Indian pitches was learning. He showed the way and now we have a lot of fast bowlers with a great becnch strength to replace them in the side.”

“That team had belief in them. We had defeated the West Indies in West Indies in one One-Day match so we were quite sure that we could do it. Then our fielding was outstanding. All these factors came in handy to win the Prudential World Cup,” said Gavaskar.

He advised the youngsters to shut off all the distractions when in the middle of the pitch if they want to excel in batting.

Speaking about his unfinished dreams, Gavaskar said he always wanted to get Rohon Kanhai and Gary Sobers out on back-to-back deliveries.

“I had a dream of getting Kanhai caught behind and then trap Sobers leg before wicket. But it never happened,” said Gavaskar.

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