Sunil Gavaskar recalls dreaming of dismissing Rohan Kanhai and Garfield Sobers

Sunil Gavaskar said during a recent conversation with PTI at the Bombay Gymkhana that, as a young player, he imagined getting Rohan Kanhai caught behind and then trapping Garfield Sobers lbw.

The former India captain, who made his name as a batsman, described an early phase when he fancied himself a bowler before going on to a distinguished opening career. Gavaskar bowled just one over on his Test debut against the West Indies at Port of Spain, where Sobers was playing, and finished his Test career with only one wicket — that of Pakistan's Zaheer Abbas. "I feel a little silly saying this, but in those days, they used to give you the new ball to bowl with in the nets. Nobody saw whether you were bowling from 22 yards or from a little further up. At the Brabourne Stadium, the nets used to be pretty lively. The ball used to move around a little," Gavaskar told PTI during a conversation at the Bombay Gymkhana.

Gavaskar set out the specifics of the youthful fantasy in his interview. "So I fancied myself as a bowler at that time. And my one dream was - again, that's why I say I feel silly - that I would get Rohan Kanhai because I used to bowl a decent outswinger. I wanted to get Rohan Kanhai caught behind and then, off the very next ball, get Garfield Sobers lbw. That was my dream," Gavaskar said.

He traced his admiration for Sobers back to childhood memories of watching the West Indies great play in India during the 1958 tour. "I had seen him get out caught and bowled off Ghulam Guard. He was a left-arm fast bowler. He bowled a bouncer, Sobers went for a hook shot and the bat flew out of his hand. The ball went up in the air, and Ghulam Guard, the fast bowler, took the catch himself," he recalled.

Gavaskar said Indian spectators had hoped to see big scores from the visitors on that occasion. "We were all disappointed that he got only 25. Despite being Indians, we wanted to see Garry Sobers and Rohan Kanhai score runs. That didn't happen," Gavaskar said. He added that Sobers answered in the second innings: "But in the second innings, when Ghulam Guard bowled another bouncer, Garry Sobers hit him over to the tennis court. I think he made 142 not out," Gavaskar said.

Gavaskar also recalled watching Sobers at the Brabourne Stadium in December 1966 from an area near the children's enclosure despite being under 18. "At the Brabourne Stadium in 1966, I was actually in the pavilion. Although I was under 18 and shouldn't have been there, the CCI had a rule that those under 18 were not allowed in the pavilion," Gavaskar recalled. "I think they allowed us to be near the children's enclosure that used to be there, and that's when we saw the game in which Sir Garfield scored those runs."

Sobers' career figures cited in the interview underline his standing in the game: he represented the West Indies between 1954 and 1974, played 93 Tests, scored 8,032 runs at an average of 57.78 and took 235 wickets. Widely regarded as one of cricket's finest all-rounders, he combined elegant batting with versatility as a bowler and exceptional fielding ability and was knighted in 1975 for his services to cricket.

Sir Garfield Sobers passed away on July 17, 2026, at the age of 89, a fact noted at the close of Gavaskar's recollections and in the interview's summary.