No batsman comes to me for advice now except Ajinkya Rahane: Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar is regarded as one of the most proficient batsmen to have ever walked the cricket field. At 5 ft 4 inches he is one of shortest Test cricketers but faced the likes of Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding without wearing a helmet. Gavaskar is one of the rare Indian batsmen who succeeded overseas and especially in England. He scored 1152 runs at an average of 41.14 in 16 Tests which included 2 hundreds and 8 fifties. The magnitude of these numbers increases when you consider the fact that those were the days when bowlers dominated the proceedings.

As the current lot of Indian batsmen are struggling against the moving ball in England, Gavaskar has revealed that except Ajinkya Rahane no batsman from the current team has sought his advice. The Little Master during his playing was a classical player who had a textbook technique – he deployed that to tackle lateral movement and sustain through some hostile spells of fast bowling. Gavaskar said that earlier the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid would come up to him and discuss the difficulties they faced and asked for solutions.

“No batsman comes to me for advice now. Earlier, players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman would often speak to me on tours but I guess this generation is different and they have different coaches and batting coaches. Only Ajinkya Rahane comes to me sometimes,” said Gavaskar while speaking to India Today.

Rahane, the vice-captain of the Indian Test side has been out of form from a long time now. However, he will want to recreate his Lord’s performance from the 2014 tour when the team takes the field for the 2nd Test of the ongoing five-match series. Rahane scored a century in the Lord’s Test last time that helped the team scale a victory.

Gavaskar unhappy with Dhawan

The former Indian opener also feels that Shikhar Dhawan does not want to change his style of play. According to Gavaskar, the left-hander can get away with a few poor shots in limited-overs cricket but the scenario is different in red-ball cricket.

“He believes in playing in the same manner which has brought him success till now. You can still get away with such shots in one-day cricket because there aren’t many slips and the push or the edge goes for a boundary through the slip cordon. But in Tests, such shots will only result in a fall of wicket,” Gavaskar added.

Gavaskar believes that Team India needs to win the toss at Lord’s, “they need to bat first” and should not bat fourth as they succumb to the pressure. He also assumes that even the English side would have struggled if they had batted last in the previous Test.

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