Sunil Gavaskar recalls how Imran Khan had stopped him from retiring before Pakistan series

Former Pakistani captain Imran Khan, who has been a politician for the last 22 years in his country, took oath as the Prime Minister of his country on Saturday. His contemporary Sunil Gavaskar, India’s legendary batsman, took this opportunity to recall how the all-round cricketer had stopped him from retiring before the Pakistan series in order to beat India in their own den.

Khan was elected as the Prime Minister by Pakistan’s parliament on Friday as he got 176 votes to beat Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)’s Shehbaz Sharif by 90 votes. His party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, emerged as the single largest party in the national elections held on July 25, defeating both the major parties — PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party.

Gavaskar, 69, wrote in his column for Times of India that Khan had asked him not to hang his boots when the two were having lunch in a restaurant in London. That was 1986 and a year before Pakistan were scheduled to tour India under his captaincy.

“You can’t retire now. Pakistan is coming to India next year and I want to beat India in India. If you aren’t part of that team, it won’t be the same. Come on, let’s have one last tilt against each other,” Imran Khan replied when I told him I planned to retire at the end of the India tour of England,” Gavaskar wrote.

The batsman had replied to Khan saying that he would go ahead with his retirement plan if the Pakistan series was not announced before the final Test against England. “The tour was indeed announced in a few days,” he wrote.

Khan wins the challenge

Pakistan played five Tests in the 1986-87 tour of India and it was in the final match in Bengaluru that the visitors stunned India by 16 runs to pocket the series 1-0. It was their first-ever series win in their neighbouring country and one of Khan’s dreams which came true.

The Bengaluru Test was Gavaskar’s last and his 96-run knock on a minefield against Pakistani spinners like Tauseef Ahmed and Iqbal Qasim still remains one of the best against spin bowling. Unfortunately, he couldn’t stop Pakistan from winning the game though and was kept devoid of a winning farewell.

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