Gavaskar turns 60 years old

India's original Little Master Sunil Gavaskar turns 60. One of my sporting idols, Sunny became a successful writer, administrator, commentator and cricket spokes person in his post retirement years. Despite the public image of him as a self centred cricketer who is traditional in outlook, Gavaskar, in fact, is very articulate, carries no baggage from the past, is very analytical and forthright. The interview by Ayaz Memom, published in http://www.dna.com/ is worth reading and worthy of an elderly statesman of cricket.

For many of my age group, Gavaskar was Indian Cricket and they will be able to appreciate this interview much more. If I were to tell you that I once travelled 48 hours in a second class sleeper compartment from Palghat to Delhi just to see Gavaskar bat, you will realize the passions he arose in a teenager. For us, citizens of a sporting nation starved of success, Sunny's greatest contribution was that he instilled the concept of self-respect in us. He showed us with his bat and actions that we, Indians, are better than the white skinned foreigners like English and Australians, who used to look down on us. He changed Indian Cricket for ever. He put some character and spine into the team. It helped that he was the first of the post independence born Indians. There is an attitude and generation change between those born before and after 1947, like there is between those born before and after 1980's. The change he ushered in was for the good. In fact, one can say that till Gavaskar, we were playing amateur cricket in India who played for the love of the game, and he turned them into a bunch of professionals. And that is no mean feat.

Some of his observations about T 20, Evolution of the game, Sledging, Life, Health of Indian Cricket are spot on. Read on..............

http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/interview_sunny-at-60-there-are-two-things-i-would-have-definitely-changed_1272587-all