'I am going to hit you there and then see if you laugh': Gavaskar shares epic story about 'quickest bowler' he has faced

Narrating an incident from a Test match, Gavaskar recalled how the fast bowler really cranked it up following an occurring that did not go down too well with him.

The legendary Sunil Gavaskar belonged to an era of cricket which was loaded with intimidating fast bowlers around the world. There was the West Indies fast-bowling quartet of Malcom Marshall, Joel Garner, Andy Roberts and Michael Holding, along with the Australian duo of Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee. The fact that Gavaskar, batting without a helmet, excelled against these bowlers on their soil en route to scoring runs prolifically.

Former India captain and batter, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar.  (Getty)

Among these, Gavaskar called Thomson the quickest bowler he has ever faced in his life. Narrating an incident from a Test match between India and Australia in Sydney, the former India captain recalled how Thomson really cranked it up following an occurring that did not go down too well with the Australia great.

"The quickest was Jeff Thomson," said Gavaskar during a show on SuperSport Cricket. "In Sydney, Australia had won the toss and batted and we dismissed them for 140 or something. Here, Tommo was in his whites even before tea. And it had just started to drizzle. Man, he was something. He was not happy about bowling at that stage."

Gavaskar went on, revealing the details of the incident that irked Thomson. Turns out the legendary Australian quick had misread a fun banter between an Indian batter and his teammates from the dressing room and thought it was directed at him.

"My opening partner Chetan Chauhan used to play this slash, that used to send the ball racing. And the team was teasing him about it. So he played that shot off Tommo and it went off the top edge, once ball into the boundary for four. In Sydney, the visitors' change room is closer to the action than the home team change room so when that boundary was hit, everyone got up and shouted 'Master'. We all could hear it. Chetan, recognizing that these guys are making fun, started to shake his head and laugh. But as he laugh, he made eye contact with Tommo in his follow through," added Gavaskar.

"Tommo thought that he was laughing at him. So we went across and marked a cross on Chetan's helmet. He said, 'I am going to hit you there and then see if you laugh'. Chetan said 'you do what you want'. And I am from the non-striker's end and trying to tell him, 'Chetan, leave it.' I am speaking to him in Marathi and he tells me, I am a Rajput'. I don't take a backward step'. And after that, he was bowling like the wind. Everything was flying around. Unbelievable. That was the fastest spell I have faced."