New Delhi. The name of great batsman Sunil Gavaskar needs no introduction. He is counted among the best openers of world cricket of all time. During the period when Gavaskar played cricket, even the great batsmen of the world used to face the fast bowling attack of West Indies, but in front of this attack, ‘Sunny’ scored a lot of runs and centuries. He was so confident in his technique and concentration that he never wore a helmet even while facing the fast bowlers of West Indies. During the period when Gavaskar played cricket, apart from the dreaded Caribbean fast bowlers like Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall, Colin Croft, Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, Bob Willis, Imran Khan and Richard Hadlee were also prominent in world cricket. But these bowlers also had to put in a lot of effort to get his wicket. It was Gavaskar who first touched the ‘Everest’ of 10 thousand runs in Test cricket.
Gavaskar started his Test career against West Indies (India Vs West Indies) in the year 1971 and in his very first series in the Caribbean Islands, he announced his explosive debut in world cricket by scoring 774 runs in four Tests at an average of 154.80. In this series, Gavaskar proved his batting technique. However, his relationship with the cricket fans of West Indies was one of love and hate.
Sunil Gavaskar with former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd and former Indian team wicketkeeper Farooq Engineer.
Song was composed in praise of Gavaskar’s batting
In the debut test series itself, when ‘Sunny’ scored a lot of runs against the dreaded bowlers of West Indies, he was defeated handily. Music is present in the veins of the people of the Caribbean Islands, a calypso song was also composed in praise of ‘Sunny’ in which the batting of this ‘Little Master’ of India was highly praised. This song was heard during the matches between India and West Indies. At the same time, after the Jamaica Test in the India-India series in 1976, something happened which made the Caribbean fans very angry with Gavaskar.
‘He was Gavaskar, a real master, just like a wall’
First of all let’s talk about the love of Caribbean fans for Gavaskar. Popular calypso singer Willard Harris composed a song by the name of Lord Relator on Gavaskar’s batting performance against Indies in the 1971 debut series. This rap style song became popular on everyone’s lips due to its simple lyrics. The lyrics of the song were something like this “It was Gavaskar, The real master, Just like a wall, We couldn’t out Gavaskar at all Not at all, You know the West Indies couldn’t out Gavaskar at all (He was Gavaskar, Real Master, just like a wall, we could not get Gavaskar out at all, you know West Indies could not get Gavaskar out at all.) This line ‘West Indies could not get Gavaskar out at all’ is quite popular. Had happened. Team India won this series 1-0, which was its first Test and series win over West Indies.
The spirit of the game was at stake in the 1976 India-India series.
However, something happened in the India-India series of 1976 which soured the relationship between Gavaskar and the cricket fans of the Caribbean island. Under this series, despite setting a target of 403 runs in the fourth innings against India in the Port of Spain Test, the Indies team had to face defeat. After this defeat, the then West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, keeping aside sportsmanship, asked his fast bowlers to do something which was widely criticized. In fact, Lloyd had realized that the Indian batsmen were unmatched in facing spin, so he had instructed his ‘pace battery’ to ‘target’ the Indian batsmen in the Kingston Test. In the fourth Test held at Sabina Park in Kingston, Lloyd fielded four express pace bowlers and asked them to bowl bouncers and beamers (balls targeting the body) at the Indian batsmen. The fielding was set on the lines of the ‘Bodyline Series’ of 1932.
Many Indian batsmen were injured due to ‘bodyline’ bowling.
Indian batsmen looked helpless against this strategy on the fast wicket of Sabina Park. Many Indian batsmen suffered injuries in the match. Three players had to be admitted to the hospital. Opener Anshuman Gaikwad was hit by a ball on his ear and had to spend two days in the hospital. Earlier, a ball had hit Gaikwad’s gloves in such a way that blood started flowing out and falling on the pad. Vishwanath’s finger was broken while Brajesh Patel needed stitches on his face. Brajesh was hit by Holding’s bouncer. Despite conduct contrary to the spirit of the game, the umpires did not stop the West Indies bowlers. As a result, Indian team captain Bishan Singh Bedi had to declare the first innings at the score of 306 for six wickets. India also had to declare the second innings over at the score of 97 for five wickets because no other player was in a position to bat due to injury. West Indies had won the test match but captain Clive Lloyd’s reputation was ‘tainted’ due to his flouting of sportsmanship.
Gavaskar had written in ‘Sunny Days’ – Barbarity in Kingston
Sunil Gavaskar has mentioned the Jamaica Test and the ‘behavior’ of the Kingston audience in his autobiography ‘Sunny Days’. He has mentioned the incident of this test in detail in a chapter titled, ‘Barbarism at Kingston.’ Sunny had written in a harsh tone, ‘It would be better if the Jamaican audience is called a mob. They were shouting, ‘Kill him man (man)’, ‘Hit him man’, ‘Knock his head off the mic. They (Kingston audience) did not clap on even one of our shots. Once when I hit a four off Daniel’s ball, I was expecting the audience to clap but they responded by laughing at me. The West Indies cricket fans were very angry with the way Gavaskar had reacted to the behavior of the Kingston crowd.
Many years later, former fast bowler Michael Holding said in his autobiography ‘No Holding Back’, ‘It was true that (in the Kingston Test) we bowled more short balls than necessary. I was not comfortable with the way we were asked to bowl but if the captain asks you to do so, you cannot do anything.