Former Indian cricketer and now the head coach, Ravi Shastri reminisced his old days when he played under the legendary Sunil Gavaskar. He felt honored to unveil a portrait of the yesteryear legend at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on the eve of the third Test match between India and Australia.
The 54-year-old revealed that Gavaskar was known as 'Mumbai Bradman' back in his playing days, and according to him, the Mumbai batsman was easily the greatest openers in world cricket that he had seen.
Ravi Shastri said in a video posted by BCCI, "Gavaskar is easily the best opening batsman I have ever seen. I had the privilege to play under him. He was the master tactician, nothing fazed him. 13 hundred against West Indies is a tribute to the way he played the game and in his prime, he was called the Mumbai Bradman when he was getting all those hundreds. For me, it's an honor to unveil this."
The Indian head coach also launched a book called 'India's 71-Year Test: The Journey to Triumph in Australia' which had photographs of India's Test cricketing history against Australia till their first-ever series victory under the leadership of Virat Kohli in 2018-19.
Shastri said, "It was an honor because the history of Indian cricket and Australian cricket goes deep. I was fascinated after reading the first four or five chapters of this book."
"You get goosebumps in the early stages, Lala Amarnath coming here, Vinoo Mankad coming here. Bradman playing against India and India playing against New South Wales, Hazare getting 200, it's fascinating," he exclaimed.
A report in cricket.com.au mentions that some of the photographs in the book were present in the USA and were bought by former Australian opener Wally Edwards, later to be donated to the Bradman Museum collection.
#TeamIndia Head Coach @RaviShastriOfc launched 'India's 71-Year Test: The Journey to Triumph in Australia', a new book by @BradmanBowral , at the @scg today.
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 6, 2021
He also unveiled a portrait of the legendary Sunil Gavaskar. pic.twitter.com/EP4UXoqHAq
(With inputs from ANI)
