When Garry Sobers’ missed chances helped Sunny!

Sunil Gavaskar, Garry Sobers Garfield Sobers was the greatest all-rounder of all time. He smashed 8,032 runs, took 235 wickets and took 109 catches across 93 Tests, which are absolute gems in the slips. But during India’s 1971 tour of the Caribbean, the West Indian maestro dropped Sunil Gavaskar at least three times, providing an unintended addition to the career of the young opener playing his debut Test series. Gavaskar, who described Sobers as “the greatest cricketer I have ever seen” in his book ‘Idols’, described these missed chances in his autobiography ‘Sunny Days’.“I was pleased to see Sobers spend a low quick edge from Holder as I tried to drive him off the back foot. Sobers fell in the attempt but spilled the ball. This was a lucky break,” he wrote. The chance was offered when Sunny was 20 years old and scored 65 on debut. It was the same Test where India recorded their first ever victory against the West Indies in Trinidad. Sobers was also literally instrumental in Gavaskar getting his first ton. The opener wrote: “As I approached my first century, dark clouds began to gather and it began to drizzle. However, play continued and I survived what was probably the easiest of catches for 94.”Sunny turned out to play forward to a flighted delivery from off-spinner Jack Noreiga. “The ball spun and bounced, hit me on the glove and went to Sobers, who would have taken a doll had he been standing where he was before the ball was delivered. But Garry anticipated my defensive stroke forward,” Gavaskar wrote. Sobers missed the grab. “At the end of the game, Gary stood in front of me and said, ‘Man, why are you going after me, can’t you find another player in the field?’ He’s let me go three times so far and this last one was the easiest of all.” Sunny got a score of 116.But the West Indian giant took everything in stride. Gavaskar scored 124 and 220 in the last Test, taking his running score to a staggering 774 in the series. “As I walked back to the pavilion, Sobers smiled and ruffled my cap,” Sunny wrote. The two cricketers were on the same side, the rest of the world, against Australia in 1971-72. Sobers’ 254 v Lillee and Co. in Melbourne, described by Donald Bradman as “the greatest since the war”. And yet, “remarkably, he never wore a thigh pad in his life,” Sunny wrote.