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Sunny hooks Lillee in sledge-fest: The Times of India
Mumbai, Aug 13: Little Master Sunil Gavaskar warned that players might come to blows if personal abuse on the field was not stopped immediately.
Mumbai, Aug 13: Little Master Sunil Gavaskar warned that players might come to blows if personal abuse on the field was not stopped immediately.
Breaking his silence on the fallout of his stirring Lord Cowdrey Spirit of Cricket Lecture at Lord’s last month, Gavaskar reiterated that sledging has become a dangerous monster. ‘‘I have seen even schoolboys in Kenya behave shockingly on the field,’’ he told this reporter in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.
The former India captain’s labelling of Aussies as masters of sledging (during the lecture), however, raised a new storm. It prompted his old enemy, Dennis Lillee, to even belittle him as an ordinary player. Gavaskar, the highest century-maker in Tests, had no hesitation in agreeing that his brother-in-law Gundappa Visha-wanath was a better batsman than he was. ‘‘I agree with Lillee that Vishy was better. In fact, I am on record about this and I repeat that Vishy was the best batsman of my generation because of the quality of the bowling that he faced and the conditions under which he made runs.’’
Gavaskar, however, was quick to return to the issue of sledging. Pointing out that sledging was short for sledgehammer in the Australian vocabulary, he said: ‘‘obviously, it can’t be very subtle.’’
‘‘Those who are defending sledging are (in fact) those who practise it,’’ he charged. ‘‘If personal abuse is part of the game it is a different game that I have played. ‘‘The West Indian players never did it. Courtney Walsh, the world’s highest wicket-taker, never uttered a word. They may have indulged in eyeball-to-eyeball tussles but that’s not the same as personal abuse. That’s not what the fans want to see,’’ he added. Responding to Lillee’s taunt about his walkout from the pitch in 1981, Gavaskar explained: ‘‘It was triggered by personal abuse on Lillee’s part. If you look at the video, I am walking towards the pavilion. I turned back only on hearing the abuse and then took (Chetan) Chauhan away. Had there been no abuse I would have vented my anger out in the dressing room,’’ he said, adding, ‘‘I expressed regret about the incident then itself, and again during the Cowdrey lecture.”
The former India captain’s labelling of Aussies as masters of sledging (during the lecture), however, raised a new storm. It prompted his old enemy, Dennis Lillee, to even belittle him as an ordinary player. Gavaskar, the highest century-maker in Tests, had no hesitation in agreeing that his brother-in-law Gundappa Visha-wanath was a better batsman than he was. ‘‘I agree with Lillee that Vishy was better. In fact, I am on record about this and I repeat that Vishy was the best batsman of my generation because of the quality of the bowling that he faced and the conditions under which he made runs.’’
Gavaskar, however, was quick to return to the issue of sledging. Pointing out that sledging was short for sledgehammer in the Australian vocabulary, he said: ‘‘obviously, it can’t be very subtle.’’
‘‘Those who are defending sledging are (in fact) those who practise it,’’ he charged. ‘‘If personal abuse is part of the game it is a different game that I have played. ‘‘The West Indian players never did it. Courtney Walsh, the world’s highest wicket-taker, never uttered a word. They may have indulged in eyeball-to-eyeball tussles but that’s not the same as personal abuse. That’s not what the fans want to see,’’ he added. Responding to Lillee’s taunt about his walkout from the pitch in 1981, Gavaskar explained: ‘‘It was triggered by personal abuse on Lillee’s part. If you look at the video, I am walking towards the pavilion. I turned back only on hearing the abuse and then took (Chetan) Chauhan away. Had there been no abuse I would have vented my anger out in the dressing room,’’ he said, adding, ‘‘I expressed regret about the incident then itself, and again during the Cowdrey lecture.”