"I never even thought about it" Sunil Gavaskar on why he never coached the Indian team

Gavaskar was the first batsman to score over 10,000 runs in Test cricket.

By Swapnil Shireesh Javkhedkar - 06 Jun, 2021

Former India batsman Sunil Gavaskar, who is considered to be one of the greats of the game, revealed why he never considered coaching the Indian team even though a lot of his teammates volunteered for the role.

I've been a terrible watcher of cricket, even when I was playing the game. If I got out, I would be watching the match very intermittently. I would watch for a while, then go inside the change room or read something or reply to letters etc. and then come out and watch again, Gavaskar said in a video on “The Analyst” YouTube channel.

So, I wasn't the ball-by-ball watcher, like say GR Vishwanath is. GRV or my uncle Madhav Mantri was a complete ball by ball watcher. And if you want to be a coach or a selector, you've got to be a ball-by-ball watcher. And therefore, I never even thought about it… being a coach,” he added.

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Even though the 71-year-old never considered coaching, but he would help any young batsman who would seek help from the legendary batsman.

Having said that, I’ve had people coming up to me. Not the current lot, but say Sachin, Rahul Dravid, Ganguly, Sehwag, and Laxman. So I’ve been very happy to exchange notes with them whatever my observations are. So yes, I’ve been able to maybe help them somewhere down the line, but on a full-time basis, that's not something I could do,” the right-hand batsman said.

The Mumbai-based batsman represented India in 125 Tests with 10,122 runs with 34 centuries and 4 double centuries to his name. Gavaskar who is also known as the ‘Little Master’ was the first batsman to score over 10,000 runs in Test cricket.

By Swapnil Shireesh Javkhedkar - 06 Jun, 2021

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