Little Master and his island fans
To cricket fans, Sunil Gavaskar’s love affair with the West Indies does not need any introduction.
He may stand at 5’5”, but in the Caribbean, the Little Master’s shadow loomed so large that they named their sons after him and sang calypsos in his honour.
An outlandish bet
Part of this reverence are anecdotes, some of which are now etched in cricketing folklore. Among them is a legendary one, about a Trinidadian fan who made an outrageous bet that Gavaskar would score more runs than two of the best West Indies openers combined.
This happened in 1983, a few months before the World Cup, on Gavaskar’s final tour to the Caribbean. India had lost the 1st Test and were now headed to Port of Spain, Trinidad, where the next match was scheduled to be played.
The Queen’s Park Oval had been a happy hunting ground for Gavaskar. In the four Tests he had played there before, the Indian opener had scored four centuries and two half centuries.
A twist no one saw coming!
However, going into the second Test, Gavaskar had not been in the best of forms. He had crossed 25 only once in his previous five innings. Moreover, the bet stacked him against two fine batters — Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge — both legends in their own right.
India were put into bat and were off to a terrible start. First, Gavaskar ran his opening partner out and then got out caught behind after scoring just one run. Apparently, the fan who had made the bet paid up immediately assuming his cause to be a lost one. However, a twist awaited.
Next day, after India were dismissed, it was West Indies’ turn to bat. Balwinder Sandhu made the new ball talk and dismissed both the openers for ducks.
Legend goes that when he got this news, the fan stormed back to the stadium, looking for the people he had placed the bet with. These worthies had, however, wisely beat a hasty retreat by then, thus avoiding to pay back the bet money.
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