Evergreen Sunny

London, June 24

A couple of days ago, we came across a strange sight: A youngish boy/man was trying to fall at the feet of Sunil Gavaskar. The sight was strange because this young gentleman was born one year after “Mr Gavaskar” played for the last time for India. Most of Gavaskar’s fanboys were born in the 1920s-1970s timeframe. Gavaskar was the hero of hero-starved Indian sports fans watching the game in the 1970s and 1980s. “I started watching cricket in the 1990s, so I missed Mr Gavaskar’s time,” said the 1988-born fan. “But I’ve watched videos of him on youtube.” Gavaskar’s career in the media has kept his fame going very strong — it’s possible that more Indians know of him than ever before.

Brothers now

Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, great fast bowling partnership once, buddies now; teammate-adversaries once, friends now. At the ground yesterday, Akram and Younis did commentary in tandem. Younis, at 47 six years Akram’s junior, got tea for Akram, asking: “Wasim bhai, chai main kya lenge?”

In their days of playing the game, the two had a running rivalry, a hate-despise relationship. The two captained each other several times. In 87 matches (Tests + ODIs) Younis played under Akram, he took 176 wickets, at an average of 26.30, which was worse than his overall average of 23.70. Conversely, Akram took 67 wickets in 43 matches in which Younis was captain, average 24.19, which was inferior to his career average of 23.57. These numbers may or may not suggest that there was a rift between the two; in fact, Younis has indeed spoken about their off-field “issues”. “Yeah, we had issues,” Younis said in an interview three years ago. “He (Akram) didn’t only have issues with me, but we had issues in the team those days. Yes, if you ask me the truth, yes I do regret at times because you know it did not really help Pakistan cricket.”

The two have got 1,705 international wickets between them — they sure did a lot right when playing together, even if they had “issues”. Now there’s harmony and love. Time has worked its magic.

Kids in focus

They do care for the kids getting into sport — most people one meets in this country have done one sport or the other. Many people classify sports in bunches — they say they’ve one field sports such as rugby or football, racquet sports such as tennis, badminton and squash, indoor sports such as volleyball or table tennis, and so. Today, a guide conducting a bunch of children assembled at the Lord’s ground: “Cricket really is the best sport.” The children nodded in agreement.