Sunny Gavaskar grateful to Sobers for helping him save place in team

Published : Mar 10, 2021, 10:06 PM IST

Sunil Gavaskar made his Test debut on March 6, 1971, against the mighty West Indies and scored 774 runs in four Tests. India won the series 1-0 and Gavaskar went on to score 10,000 Test runs.

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Mumbai: Little Master Sunil Gavaskar is celebrating the golden jubilee of his iconic debut in international cricket in 2021. On Wednesday, Gavaskar revealed that he wouldn't have survived very long had it not been for a couple of "lives" given by great Sir Garfield Sobers.

Gavaskar was speaking at a 'Gift of Life' ceremony after 'Rotary Club of Bombay Airport', led by Nitin Mehta, took responsibility for congenital heart surgeries of around 150 children at the 'Shri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Hospital'.

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"In my first Test match that I was playing, I was batting on 12 and a drive outside the off-stump and the catch went to the greatest cricketer...Garfield Sobers, it went straight to him and it poked out of his hands, I was on only 12, so I got a gift of cricketing life there," the 71-year-old said here.

"That allowed me to score a half-century and keep my place in the team for the next Test," he recalled.

The batting star of yesteryear made his Test debut on March 6, 1971, against the mighty West Indies and scored 774 runs in four Tests. India won the series 1-0 and Gavaskar went on to score 10,000 Test runs.

"In the next Test also, when I was batting on 6, I slashed at the ball outside the off-stump, again it went to Sir Garfield Sobers, this time, of course, the ball went a lot quicker, he probably didn't see it in the background.

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"The ball sometimes gets lost in the background and it hit him in the chest and by the time he would recover, the ball again dropped to the ground and I got my first Test century.

"It helped me to keep my career going for 16-17 years for the Indian team. But for those two lives, I wouldn't be here," he said and also explained how cricket is a team game," recalled the 'Little Master', who has amassed 10,122 runs from 125 Tests.

Also Read: It's for ICC to decide, there can't be too many World Cups: Rohit Sharma

"That allowed me to score a half-century and keep my place in the team for the next Test," he recalled.

Also Read: Limited fans to be allowed in stadium for WTC final in Southampton

"The ball sometimes gets lost in the background and it hit him in the chest and by the time he would recover, the ball again dropped to the ground and I got my first Test century.

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Sunny Gavaskar

Garfield Sobers

India's tour of West Indies 1971

Gift of Life

India vs West Indies

Sunny Gavaskar grateful to Sobers for helping him save place in team

Sunil Gavaskar made his Test debut on March 6, 1971, against the mighty West Indies and scored 774 runs in four Tests. India won the series 1-0 and Gavaskar went on to score 10,000 Test runs.

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