‘Pace and swing’: Sunil Gavaskar reveals ‘toughest test’ of his career
In a chat with former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja, Gavaskar revealed the toughest bowling he had to face during his career.
Former India captain and batting icon Sunil Gavaskar set the marker as far as opening the batting is concerned. Wearing a hat, he aced challenges which included facing the fury of the West Indies bowling attack, and also countered the threat of the reverse swing by Pakistan bowlers. However, he said facing Richard Hadlee in New Zealand was the toughest test he had to face in his career.
In a chat with former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja, Gavaskar revealed the toughest bowling he had to face during his career. “ In 1982-83 when India toured Pakistan and the way Imran Khan bowled and picked up 40 odd wickets in the series it was tough. Every spell Imran and Sarfaraz (Sarfaraz Nawaz) bowled was testing. In those days nobody had heard about or seen reverse swing. The new ball wasn’t a problem but the way the ball swung post lunch was difficult to face,” he said during the chat.
Gavaskar also said that facing Richard Hadlee in New Zealand where he made the ball to swing at pace. “Facing Richard Hadlee’s pace and swing in those conditions was very testing. The toughest test I would say was facing Hadlee in the three tests in New Zealand in 1981,” he added.
On India vs Pakistan matches:
The topic has been in discussion among cricket pundits ever since Shoaib Akhtar put forth a suggestion of an only for TV series between the two countries to help raise funds to fight the coronavirus pandemic in both the countries.
“There are more chances of snowfall in Lahore than bilateral series between India and Pakistan. Both teams will keep on meeting in World Cups and ICC tournaments, but a series between them seem unlikely right now,” Gavaskar said.