I do not like easy centuries – Gavaskar 

Pune, Oct 31st 2018: “I do not like easy centuries because I have taken a lot of effort while scoring 34 centuries in test cricket. Whereas, in Golf you can score 100 so easily and that is the reason why I do not like to play Golf and thus preferred to play badminton”, said Sunil Gavaskar while narrating an incidence in Malaysia where he preferred to play badminton when invited by the hosts to play golf. He was speaking during an interaction with sports journalist Sunandan Lele during an event organized by Athashree Foundation, where he was awarded with the Life Time Achievement Award at the hands of Shashank Paranjape, Managing Director, Paranjape Schemes. Shrikant Paranjape, Chairman, Paranjape Schemes and Sudesh Khatavkar of Athashree Foundation were also present on the occasion.

Reacting to this honor Gavaskar expressed his gratitude towards the fans and said, “We cricketers need a lot of good luck in our cricketing career and I believe this good luck is brought by the best wishes and prayers of fans whose prayers for their team and favorite player are so pure. They just pray for the team to win and for their favorite player to perform well and we the cricketers hardly get a chance to thank them for their love and affection.”

During an engaging conversation Gavaskar touched upon many interesting incidences in his cricketing career right from his international debut which was against West Indies, learning from players like Eknath Solkar and Dilip Sardesai, his friendship with Sir Vivian Richards and Javed Miandad.

While answering the question about sledging in their times Gavaskar shared some incidences on a lighter note about Javed Miandad. He said, “Javed will always talk to either the wicket keeper or the bowler on any topic right from what did you eat last night to anything but will never say anything to the batsman directly. Once after India loosing a test match against Pakistan in India, which was my last test match as well we the Indian team decided to go to the dressing room of Pakistan to congratulate them. Here, Javed came to me and apologized for the bad words that he used for me while I was batting. On my reply to him that I did not hear anything that he said, Javed in a mischievous manner said on Oh! then I should not have said sorry to you.”

Commenting on various generations in cricket Gavaskar said that there is something to learn from each generation. For example Chandu Borde’s generation have taught us discipline in the game. Current generation is the generation of Television and they know the importance of it. Thus, players try to couple action of the sport with the little bit of entertainment by some gestures. Their approach towards the sport and the fitness is indeed commendable.

He also said that taking care of your parents in their old age should not be done as your duty but should be done with your heart and soul in it. He said Pune is always special to him because it was his performance in University cricket in Pune which made him bag a place in the national team. Jokingly he also mentioned that if the roads were like the Pitches in Pune, our vehicles would not get damaged.