Sunil Gavaskar Recalls An Instance When He Was Fined By Sandip Patel During A Sunday Club Meeting

Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian opener-turner commentator, recently reminisced about a hilarious incident where his former teammate and all-rounder Sandip Patil, imposed a fine on him for not wearing a tie on a Sunday Club meeting.

The concept of Sunday meeting was introduced by former England cricketer Norman Gifford. It was aimed to serve as an ice-breaker between the members of the team.

When Sunil Gavaskar was appointed Indian captain in 1978, he former a Sunday club of his own with the members of his team. Gavaskar revealed that when all-rounder Sandip Patil was made the chairman of the club, he introduced a peculiar dress code.

“When Sandeep Patil was the chairman, absolutely ideal as he was such a fun-loving guy, he had a uniform where you had to come with a centre parting in your hair,” Sunil Gavaskar told Gaurav Kapur on his show 22 Yarns.

“If I recall correctly you came in with a white sock in your left hand and a black one in your right hand, not on your feet mind you. You came in with the shirt tied back to front or you wore a tie without a shirt.” Gavaskad added.

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When Sunil Gavaskar overturned chairman Sandip Patil’s decision

Sunil Gavaskar stated that Sandeep Patil tried to impose a fine on him but the rules of the Sunday meeting were such that if a member did not agree with the chairman, he could overturn his decision.

Gavaskar revealed how he was able to find a loophole in the former all-rounder’s dress-code and managed to get away with the fine.

“In that particular Sunday club, the chairman had the option to fine you for not having come dressed as you were told. If the rest of the team agreed, it would go through but the rest of the team could also contest. I remember that he had asked us to wear a tie, we were bare chested, had a centre parting with lipstick on, something like that. He asked me where my tie was. I told him that I have got my tie on, so what is his problem,” Sunil Gavaskar revealed.

“He fined me stating – ‘Sunil Gavaskar is not dressed well, he has not worn a tie so he is fined’. I asked him why he was fining me and told that my tie was where my shorts were. It was under my shorts. I told him that he had never specified that the tie had to be worn on the neck,” he added.

“Then I turned it around and I asked rest of the guys that I had got this and that he had not mentioned that it had to be worn around the throat. So, because he has fined me wrongly, did they think that the chairman should be fined. Everybody unanimously agreed, so the chairman got fined.” Sunil Gavaskar added.

The fine collected would be used for refreshments the next day, Gavaskar added.

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