Sobers Made 254 At The MCG Bowl Wearing Gavaskar’s Sweater!

Batting maestro Sunil Gavaskar was somewhat crestfallen that he never got an opportunity to forge a partnership with Garry Sobers in the Australia versus World XI five-match series played in Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide in the 1971-72 season. Gavaskar opened the innings with South African Hylton Ackerman, and the first two matches did not create a situation in which he could have made his dream come true. With Sobers slotted at No 6 after Rohan Kanhai, Zaheer Abbas and Clive Lloyd at Brisbane, and at No 7 after Kanhai, Abbas, Lloyd and Tony Greig—opening with Farokh Engineer—Gavaskar’s chances of pairing up with his idol Sobers in the middle probably had 100/1 odds. But it did happen in the first innings of the third match at the MCG Bowl, when Gavaskar was in good nick, and his partners in Ackerman, Abbas and Lloyd all gone. Gavaskar, who rose to fame with a phenomenal 774 runs in four Tests in his debut series in the West Indies in 1971, was cock a hoop with the great West Indian all-rounder coming to bat at No 5! But the Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee became a killjoy for Gavaskar, sending back Sobers first ball and the Gavaskar-Sobers partnership became a non-starter. But in the second innings, Sobers played the innings of his life, 254, described by Sir Don Bradman as the greatest ever, and Gavaskar was thrilled because the majestic Barbadian was wearing the Indian’s oversized sweater. “Have a look at the sweater Sobers is wearing,” Gavaskar told the audience at the Bombay Gymkhana on Monday (Oct 12) evening at an event around Sir Garfield Sobers. The film was screened, after which Gavaskar and Ian Bishop paid glowing tributes to the legendary West Indian all-rounder.