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Cricket Players'Before the Test, I was in immense pain but our manager forbade me from taking painkillers': Gavaskar on 1971 WI tour
It all started in the historic 1971 tour of the Caribbean, where Gavaskar shot into the spotlight by amassing 774 runs, with an average of 154. It is the part of cricketing folkore how Gavaskar showed up on the Caribbean shores and braved the bouncer barrage of the Windies pacers, setting in motion his legacy.
Sunil Gavaskar is regarded as one of India’s finest batters of all time, and one of the greatest Test cricketers to have graced the sport. He ended his career with over 10000 Test runs, an average of 51.12, and 34 international centuries. His best numbers came against the strongest team of his era, the famous West Indian outfit of Clive Lloyd, Vivian Richards, and the pace attack of the four horsemen. Against this dangerous opposition, who dominated world cricket, Gavaskar had an average over 65, and scored 13 centuries, including his high score of 236* in Chennai — the century being his 30th, overtaking Sir Donald Bradman.
It all started in the historic 1971 tour of the Caribbean, where Gavaskar shot into the spotlight by amassing 774 runs, with an average of 154. It is the part of cricketing folkore how Gavaskar showed up on the Caribbean shores and braved the bouncer barrage of the Windies pacers, setting in motion his legacy.
However, it was almost not to be: in the decisive 5th Test of the series, with India trying to hang on to a famous series victory at the home of Calypso Cricket, Gavaskar was struck down by the most innocuous of things.
“On the eve, of that last Test match in the West Indies in Port of Spain, after practice session, I am trying to drink water from my jug, and bits of ice got into the cavity of my tooth and it was so painful!” said Gavaskar on CRED’s show, The Long Game.
“But because there was a Test match to be played and we were already 1-0 up, and this became a very crucial Test match, and I wanted to be a part of the Indian team. The manager of the team forbade me from taking any sleeping tablets or any painkillers and anything that is likely to affect your reflexes, make you a little bit sleepy is something I'm not going to give you. So which meant that I had not even think about the pain.”
Gavaskar had already scored two match-winning half-centuries in the second Test at Port of Spain, as well as consecutive centuries in Georgetown and Bridgetown. He was the man in form at the top of the order, with three half-centuries and two centuries entering that final match at the Queen’s Park Oval.
“But that's what happens when you're playing for your country. You tend to forget any externals, any pain or any other things that could happen to you. Because playing for your country is the ultimate. And that is what kept me going because I realized I was the one in form, and the team needed me. I managed to go on for 5 days, and when I got out in the second innings, where I got a double hundred and I got a century in the first innings as well.”
With a hundred and double-century in the same match, he was the second player to achieve that feat, and even to this date, the only Indian to do so. Despite battling a toothache, Gavaskar faced the Windies fire and added 344 runs off his bat in that final Test. When the dust settled, he had scored 774 runs, the most ever by any debutant in any Test series, and in fact, the most by any Indian player in any series, up till present day.
“That's when the manager immediately sent me to the dentist and he extracted the tooth,” continues Gavaskar. “So by the time I actually came back, India was in a very good position. So I was there, to see the end in a draw which meant that India with its 1-0 win, went on to win a series against the West Indies for the first time ever. It was a joyful moment for all of us, a very very proud moment for all of us.” It would be India’s only victory in the Caribbean for 35 years, but a memorable one which is spoken about venerably even today.
