When Garry Sobers came to Sunil Gavaskar’s rescue!

When Garry Sobers came to Sunil Gavaskar’s rescue!

Sunil Gavaskar was the epitome of technical perfection. He had phenomenal powers of concentration and would go by the book — playing the ball along the ground.  He was a classicist in every sense of the word.

Gavaskar had a jaw-dropping Test debut series in 1971 where he got 774 runs in four Tests against the Garry Sobers-led West Indies in the Caribbean. Gavaskar had struck a good rapport with the legendary all-rounder. And when the two found themselves on the same side for the Rest of the World XI against Australia later that year, Sobers invited Gavaskar to play a round of golf.

The 22-year-old Gavaskar was unfamiliar with the sport and could not hit the ball to desired perfection and was carpeting along the ground. After a while, Sobers walked up to Gavaskar and told him, “Son, it ok in this game to hit the ball in the air!” This anecdote was revealed to by Gavaskar himself to golf journalist Joy Chakaravarty.