Kris Srikkanth Reveals An Instance When Sunil Gavaskar Fulfilled His Dream Of Scoring A Half-Century Faster Than The Tamil Nadu Opener

Kris Srikkanth, former Indian swashbuckling opener, and a World Cup winner has hailed ‘Little Master’ Sunil Gavaskar as one of the greatest captains that India ever produced, adding that it was his pleasure to play both under his leadership as well as his opening partner.

Srikkanth recently appeared on the Tamil version of Star Sports show ‘Cricket Connected’ where he went on to reveal how Sunil Gavaskar went on to fulfill his promise of scoring a half-century faster than the swashbuckling opener.

Gavaskar fulfilled his promise during the 1987 Madras Test against arch-rivals Pakistan.

“Sunny! Many many happy returns of the day. Just imagine. I played under the captaincy of a great leader, Sunil Gavaskar and also I got to play as his opening partner. This is all God”s grace, nothing else! One of my favourite moments with Sunil Gavaskar is the Madras Test against Pakistan in 1987. It was his last series. He always used to tell me, ”Cheeka! One day I”ll definitely score a fifty faster than you in the same match,” Kris Srikkanth said on Star Sports Tamil ‘Cricket Connected’

“Finally, this wish of Sunil became a reality in the Madras Test. I scored a century in that match. But, living up to his words, Sunil was the first to score 50 runs and I reached my 50 one ball later. I can”t even believe that Sunil really did this and also, it happened in Chennai. He played aggressively and superbly in that match, and ended up scoring 91 runs.” he added.

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Sunil Gavaskar and Kris Srikkanth enjoyed a 200-run-stand in that Madras Test

Speaking of Sunil Gavaskar’s captaincy, the legendary opener, in his recent column, has expressed his befuddlement at being sacked from the job despite leading the Men in Blue to a 1-0 series win against defending champions West Indies at home in 1978-79. Gavaskar, who had scored 700+ runs in that series was replaced by S Venkatraghavan.

“I was replaced as captain despite India winning the series against the West Indies (1978-79) and in which I got more than 700 runs. I still don’t know the reason for it, but can only surmise that it was because I had been pretty open about the offer to join Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket. However, I signed the BCCI contract before the selection, thereby proving where my loyalties lay,” Sunil Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day.

The ‘Little Master’ had also revealed how he had tried to convince selectors to not sack Bishan Singh Bedi after India lost the series against Pakistan.

“The committee decided to drop Mr B.S. Bedi after three Test matches. In fact, they wanted to drop him straightaway after I replaced him as skipper after the series loss in Pakistan. I argued that he was still the best left-arm spinner in the country and so they reluctantly agreed to pick him for the first Test,” Gavaskar revealed.

Coming back to that Madras Test against Pakistan in 1987, Gavaskar, who scored 91, stitched a 200-run-stand with Kris Srikkanth, who himself scored a whirlwind 149-ball 123 in what eventually turned out to be a drawn match.

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