India's former captain Sunil Gavaskar shared a hilarious incident when the team used to have an ice-breaking session between players. It was 1978 when Gavaskar was appointed as Indian captain and he organized a Sunday club for the players.
There used to be rules for the get-together session and players had to follow it. In case someone failed, they got fined for it.
Every Sunday club had a chairman and when Gavaskar was captain, Sandeep Patil was the head. Patil had introduced an odd dress code that the players had to follow.
“When Sandeep Patil was the chairman, absolutely ideal as he was such a fun-loving guy, he had a uniform where you had to come with a centre parting in your hair,” Gavaskar told Gaurav Kapur on his show 22 Yarns.
“If I recall correctly you came in with a white sock in your left hand and a black one in your right hand, not on your feet mind you. You came in with the shirt tied back to front or you wore a tie without a shirt.”
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The 71-year-old revealed how he played a trick with Sandeep and turned the tables after he was about to get fined.
“In that particular Sunday club, the chairman had the option to fine you for not having come dressed as you were told. If the rest of the team agreed, it would go through but the rest of the team could also contest,” the former India batsman said. “I remember that he had asked us to wear a tie, we were bare-chested, had a centre parting with lipstick on, something like that. He asked me where my tie was. I told him that I have got my tie on, so what is his problem.
“He fined me stating - ‘Sunil Gavaskar is not dressed well, he has not worn a tie so he is fined’. I asked him why he was fining me and told me that my tie was where my shorts were. It was under my shorts. I told him that he had never specified that the tie had to be worn on the neck.
“Then I turned it around and I asked rest of the guys that I had got this and that he had not mentioned that it had to be worn around the throat. So, because he has fined me wrongly, did they think that the chairman should be fined. Everybody unanimously agreed, so the chairman got fined.”
Gavaskar said the fines collected would be used to get refreshments for the next Sunday Club meeting.
