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Sunil Gavaskar
Legendary Indian batsman and former Indian Captain, Sunil Gavaskar is known widely for his exceptional playing record. After retirement, he has shared his expertise for many publications and turned to commentate. Recently in a YouTube video for The Analyst, he shared his reason for never coaching Team India.
The former Indian skipper believes that one has to be a good cricket spectator to be a coach. Spectating is a skill that he seems to lack making him not a good fit to be a coach.
He opined that most of the great coaches and selectors have to be able to observe the game ball-by-ball. He gave examples of his uncle, Madhav Mantri, and GR Vishwanath. On the other hand, Gavaskar himself preferred reading or writing to watching the game even when he used to play. For this reason, he never considered himself fit for coaching.
During the 1990s, Team India changed coaches frequently
The list includes names like Madan Lal, Bishan Bedi, Sandeep Patil, Kapil Dev, Ajit Wadekar. However, even after retiring in 1987, Gavaskar never joined their ranks. He focussed instead on becoming a columnist and a commentator.
The batting legend made his debut in 1971 against West Indies at the Oval Stadium in Queen's Park. He went on to represent India in 125 Test matches. There he accumulated a whopping 10,122 runs with an impressive 51.12 average. He also played in 108 ODIs scoring a total of 3092 runs with an average of 35.13. Furthermore, he set many records including the previous Indian Test record of 236 runs against West Indies.
He acted as an advisor for Team India in the home series against Australia in 2004. This was his closest stint to being a coach. Nevertheless, he has helped many cricketers including Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, and Sourav Ganguly. He noted that he enjoyed sharing his expertise with them. However, he would not have enjoyed pursuing it on a full-time basis.
At present, Sunil Gavaskar is gearing up for commentating in the WTC final between India and New Zealand. The WTC final starts on June 18 at the Ageas Bowl in England.