Sunny-Vishy show leaves audience pining for more

What are the odds against two 73-year-olds, one witty and articulate, other somewhat taciturn but with a wry sense of humour – holding a packed audience in thrall at an era when T20 cricket and franchise leagues rule the landscape of the game? A short one, if you can manage to put Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Vishwanath together on the dais for a chat show in the City of Joy.

Such is the importance of being ‘Sunny’ and ‘Vishy’ in Indian cricket – the two original Little Masters who ruled our consciousness across the 1970s till the mid’80s. The two talismanic figures have been folk heroes in the country’s journey from being strugglers in international cricket to a force to be reckoned with, but much like a conspicuous absence of too many long partnerships between them in Tests, one fails to recall how many times they have actually shared a stage together.

It was eventually left to a leading media house of Kolkata, a city where both have left a number of unforgettable footprints during their career, to bring them together at their business conclave ‘Infocom 2022’ themed: The Age of Change  Makers. An hour with them seemed too little as the moderator tried to lead us down the familiar route of questions, but then had to close shop hurriedly due to ‘time constraints.’

There were enough gems though during the interaction as Gavaskar – who had always been effusive in his praise for his brother-in-law – called GRV the real ‘Mr 355 degrees’ batsman ahead of his time. Chipping in during a discussion about Vishy’s fabled shot-making square off the wicket, Gavaskar said: ‘’He could play his late cuts as late to guide them between the wicketkeeper and the first slip, while he played the paddle sweep before the term was coined. He may not have played the scoop shot but you see, he played virtually across all degrees of the ground except may be five degrees to be a 360 degrees batsman…’’

Chipping in during a discussion about Vishy’s fabled shot-making square off the wicket, Gavaskar said: ‘’He could play his late cuts as late to guide them between the wicketkeeper and the first slip, while he played the paddle sweep before the term was coined. He may not have played the scoop shot but you see, he played virtually across all degrees of the ground except may be five degrees to be a 360 degrees batsman…’’

  Two almost inevitable questions came up about the two legends’ approach to batsmanship. While Gavaskar was known for his phenomenal power of concentration, he had gone on record saying that he never looked at the scoreboard while batting and that he learnt it only from non-striker Dilip Vengsarkar that he had reached his 29^th Test century – equalling Sir Don Bradman’s record.

  When asked about it, Gavaskar said that he tried to build his innings through sessions as his career progressed and it was Vengsarkar who came across the wicket to say that he had ‘done it.’ There were a few other obvious questions about what caused the bat to famously drop from his hands as he was tackling a bouncer from Malcolm Marshall (it was basically dropping his wrists so that the ball doesn’t balloon into a catch) or what made him attempt to stage a walkout along with Chetan Chauhan when he was given a leg before to Dennis Lillee Down Under (the reaction was prompted by the fact that he was actually abused by some of the Australian players as he was walking back to the pavilion).

Back again to Vishy, the moderator had opened with one of the most time-worn, often clichéd argument that Gavaskar was the architect while Vishwanath was the artist who didn’t care much for the records. Would he have batted the same way if he was born a cricketer again? Vishy’s deadpan reply was: ‘’I really don’t know about this artistry. All I can say is that I tried to read the length of the balls and played accordingly.’’

As fans of their unique styles and having grown up on them, one can only wish them good health and hope they just bat on…