This time last month, Sunil Gavaskar was the toast of Pakistan. Alongside Kapil Dev and 12 other former international captains for their very public, passionate and heartfelt appeal to the Pakistani authorities to treat Imran Khan, Pakistan’s cricketing pride and joy, with the humaneness that any individual, let alone an icon of the country, deserves.
An initiative that is the brainchild of Greg Chappell was whole-heartedly endorsed by two of India’s greatest cricketers and skippers of all time, who chose to set aside political tensions and a climate of distrust aside and join their counterparts from other parts of the world to make a fervent plea on behalf of the ailing Imran, the charismatic 1992 World Cup-winning skipper and one-time Prime Minister of his country.
Gavaskar was hailed for his stance, as was Kapil who isn’t – and this is said with no disrespect – as much of a media personality as his former skipper. In Pakistan, they have always held the little master in high esteem, as much for his batting as for his strength of conviction and character. His last Test appearance in that country was back in 1982-83 and nearly four decades after his retirement in 1987, he still evokes awe and respect for his deeds in a hostile land against a wonderful array of pace bowlers.
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His relationship with Pakistani cricketers of his era was marked by camaraderie and banter. Among those who he got along famously are Imran and the pesky Javed Miandad, who was once distraught at having apologised for sledging Gavaskar after coming to know that the blinkered Indian opener hadn’t so much as heard a word flowing out of Miandad’s motormouth at silly point during a Test match.
Gavaskar has been his own man – he was so even when he was still an active player who didn’t shy away from calling India’s selectors ‘court jesters’ ahead of the tour of Australia in 1977-78 for which he has Bishan Bedi’s deputy – and nothing has changed since he has successfully transitioned from a fabulous opening batter with immense powers of concentration and impeccable technique to a commentator and analyst with sharp observation powers. Some of his views have polarised opinion and invoked criticism, but then again, if everyone else can have an opinion on his opinion, why can’t he have his own in the first place?
Gavaskar has earned the right to pull no punches
The legendary opener is now again in the news for his remarks on the procurement by Sunrisers Leeds of Pakistani leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed at the first-ever auction of The Hundred last week. Leeds is one of several franchises in the unique 100-balls-a-side tournament in England with Indian owners. Ahead of the auction, it was widely expected that none of the Indian-owned franchises would bid for a Pakistani player, an expectation solidified by Pakistani women players going unsold on the opening day. But Sunrisers Leeds, whose owners also own Sunrisers Hyderabad, the 2016 champions, in the Indian Premier League, broke ranks on the second day of the auction, shelling out 190,000 pounds for the 27-year-old Pakistani in a surprise move that caught everyone off guard.
Pakistan players featured in the inaugural IPL in 2008 but following the heinous Mumbai attacks of November that year, have been ‘banned’ from the most visible T20 franchise competition in the world. Had no India-based team bid for a Pakistani in The Hundred, it wouldn’t have created a furore, never mind the ‘equal opportunity’ stick that convenient quarters chose to invoke. But now, with the signing of Abrar, Sunrisers Leeds have attracted different viewpoints, some critical like those of Gavaskar and others laudatory for putting ‘cricket above politics’.
Those who view Gavaskar’s diametrically opposite Pakistan-related stances of the last month as convenient or self-serving must be those who are unaware of the original don of Indian batting’s propensity to treat each issue on its merit, like he did each ball while stacking up 10,122 Test runs. Imran’s was a plight that needed to be highlighted on a global level, if only to pressurise a blasé Pakistani government to right its wrongs in humiliating one of its own. In the Abrar instance, Gavaskar has merely said what many of his countrymen without the same visible platform as him feel. It’s not as if he has taken it upon himself to bring their sentiments to the fore; his views, as always, are entirely his and while everyone has a right to agree or disagree, it won’t be appropriate or correct to assume that his current standpoint stems from the desire to ‘toe the line’ when Sunrisers Leeds themselves have shown that there is no line to be toed.
Maybe many of us will feel some of his comments are over the top and we have every right to feel so. But then again, if we have that right, why can’t someone as erudite, well-travelled, largely impartial and supremely informed as Gavaskar enjoy the same privilege? At 76, Gavaskar has been around long enough not to give in to popular public sentiment and is strong enough not to allow others to use his shoulder to fire their shots. Let’s not forget that. Ever.
