How Gavaskar got Sachin to make a ‘comeback’

Members of The Legend’s Club celebrate Sunil Gavaskar’s 75th birthday at Wankhede on Wednesday. Pic/Atul Kamble

Sunil Gavaskar's 75 birthday was celebrated by The Legend's Club at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.

With the batting icon in London, a cake was cut on his behalf at the PD Hall.

In attendance were K Jayantilal, who was Gavaskar's teammate on their 1971 debut series in the West Indies, former Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) president Dr Vijay Patil, ex-Mumbai cricketer Bharat Nadkarni, ex-commentator Fredun De Vitre, BCCI umpires Marcus Couto and Paschim Pathak.

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Among those who were asked to speak about their experiences with Gavaskar, was Anil Joshi, who was Gavaskar's teammate at Nirlon.

Joshi spoke about the time when he and Hemant Waingankar apprised Gavaskar of a kid called Sachin Tendulkar, who was disappointed at not being named MCA's Junior Cricketer of the Year in 1987. Joshi revealed that the then teenaged Tendulkar was so disappointed at not being named for the award that he stopped playing cricket for a month.

Joshi remarked: "I was with SunGrace Mafatlal then and we had already adopted Sachin. Ajit [Tendulkar's elder brother] came to the late Hemant and me. We decided that the best option [to pacify Tendulkar] was to get Sunil to write an encouraging letter to Sachin."

Gavaskar obliged and stated in the letter that he too was passed over for a similar honour. Joshi stressed that the letter "turned Sachin's career."

By the way, Gavaskar wrote the letter on the bonnet of Waingankar's car before boarding a flight. And Tendulkar's career took off.