Sunil Gavaskar Is Easily The Best Opening Batsman I've Ever Seen: Ravi Shastri

India head coach Ravi Shastri, on Wednesday, unveiled the portrait of his former skipper Sunil Gavaskar for the Bowral Museum, on the eve of the third Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The former India allrounder showered praise on his ex-teammate and called him the best opener he has ever seen. Ravi Shastri also said that he was privileged to share the dressing room with Gavaskar.

Ravi Shastri also held him as a master tactician and also highlighted his record as a batsman. Gavaskar bowed out of the game with most number of Test tons which was later broken by Sachin Tendulkar. The India coach also pointed out Gavaskar’s stunning record with the bat against the all-conquering West Indies side of the 70s and 80s. Gavaskar had scored an impressive 13 tons against the Caribbean outfit.

“Gavaskar is easily the best opening batsman I have ever seen. I had the privilege to play under him. He was the master tactician, nothing fazed him. 13 hundred against West Indies is a tribute to the way he played the game and in his prime, he was called the Mumbai Bradman when he was getting all those hundreds. For me it’s an honour to unveil this,” Ravi Shastri said in a video posted by BCCI.

#TeamIndia Head Coach @RaviShastriOfc launched 'India's 71-Year Test: The Journey to Triumph in Australia', a new book by @BradmanBowral , at the @scg today.

He also unveiled a portrait of the legendary Sunil Gavaskar. pic.twitter.com/EP4UXoqHAq

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 6, 2021

In addition to unveiling the portrait of Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri also launched a new book ”India’s 71-Year Test: The Journey to Triumph in Australia”. According to a report in cricket.com.au, the book features more than 200 pictures, many of which were found languishing in the United States of America (USA) and purchased by former Australia Test opener Wally Edwards who donated them to the Bradman Museum collection.

“It was an honour because the history of Indian cricket and Australian cricket goes deep. I was fascinated after reading the first four or five chapters of this book,” said Shastri before adding: “You get goosebumps in the early stages, Lala Amarnath coming here, Vinoo Mankad coming here. Bradman playing against India and India playing against New South Wales, Hazare getting 200, it’s fascinating.”

Meanwhile, the ongoing four-match Test series bewteen Australia and India is currently level at 1-1. The third Test is scheduled to get underway on January 7 at the SCG. Team India have already named their playing eleven for the Test, making two changes to the team that won the MCG Test. Rohit Sharma has replaced Mayank Agarwal while Navdeep Saini has been included too.

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