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Sunil Gavaskar - The world's first bionic man

Lillian Thomson

Hall of Fame Member
Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian captain, has said he is shocked that players are complaining about the packed schedule while adding that the hard grind came with the honour of representing one's country.
"I can't see the problem, these players are turning out for their countries, it's an honour to represent your country," Gavaskar said on a television programme. "I would be willing to sweat 365 days in a year for India. Those who can't stand the heat should stay out."
Full story on Cric Info

What he says might be true in theory but the relentless schedule is causing tiredness and injury on a regular basis, in fact some of the injuries are probably down to too much wear and tear in too short a time. If I go to watch international sport I want to see the best players at the peak of their game, not half a team missing through injury or fatigue.
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
Whilst the knock was a disgrace, one does have to respect (weird term to use, maybe appreciate is better) the sheer volume of patience it must have taken to bat in such a selfish and boring way. I mean that honestly goes beyond anything I have ever read about.

If Sunil could do that, he could escape from Shawshank prison.
 

Pedro Delgado

International Debutant
I find that innings hilarious. Just as I did reading about the umpires giving players out for playing the sweep shot, whether or not the ball was hitting the stumps, years ago - "That is an ugly and unnessesary stroke young man, out!". Brilliant.
 

Smudge

Hall of Fame Member
Jono said:
Whilst the knock was a disgrace, one does have to respect (weird term to use, maybe appreciate is better) the sheer volume of patience it must have taken to bat in such a selfish and boring way. I mean that honestly goes beyond anything I have ever read about.

If Sunil could do that, he could escape from Shawshank prison.
Hmmm, gives me an idea for a monologue...

Like I said. In cricket, a man'll do
most anything to keep his mind
occupied...

I guess after test cricket was almost killed,
Sunil decided he'd been batting for not quite long enough...

Sunil did like he was told. Batted pretty much solely for time...

The fielders simply didn't notice....
Neither did I. I mean, seriously,
how often do you really look at a
man's strikerate?

Sunil crawled to boredom through
more than fifty overs of bad-looking
foulness I can't even imagine. Or
maybe I just don't want to....
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
Reminds me of a poem, whose ending is "An Englishman's crease is his castle - and I'll stay here as long as I choose".

No idea who wrote it, the poem was published in "A Cricketer's Companion", published in the 1950's and with a foreword by John Arlott.

I can't find my copy but AMZ has one, I believe - perhaps he can add more?
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
Unfortunately, I saw the game.

Andy would have crawled the 500 poo-filled yards straight back into Shawshank in a flash if the tunnel had emerged at Lord's on that fateful day.

(Nice monologue, Volty, but it doesn't truly do justice to the full horror of Gavaskar's innings).
 

C_C

International Captain
The workload is not the problem. The incessant travelling is.

If you add up the physical aspect of the game (ie, how many days you are spending in the middle), you'd find that players back then played more days of cricket/year than players today do- especially the ones who also played county cricket.
 

open365

International Vice-Captain
I don't get it, why would Sunil play like that when India hadn't won a game that series?
 

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
Lillian Thomson said:
"I can't see the problem, these players are turning out for their countries, it's an honour to represent your country," Gavaskar said on a television programme. "I would be willing to sweat 365 days in a year for India. Those who can't stand the heat should stay out."
It's easy for SunnyG to talk, he played in an era where they used to have rest day in tests. Players are not machines and there definately is too much cricket now. sunnyG with his fitness regime wouldn't last a month in this kinda schedule.
 

C_C

International Captain
Sanz said:
It's easy for SunnyG to talk, he played in an era where they used to have rest day in tests. Players are not machines and there definately is too much cricket now. sunnyG with his fitness regime wouldn't last a month in this kinda schedule.
Ehhh ???
How is Sehwag lasting in today's schedule ? How is Inzy or Warne lasting ?

I really dont think there is too much cricket being played by players of these days.
If you add up the FC games and International games, you'd find that almost everyone in the 70s and 80s who played county cricket extensively logged in more days/year playing cricket than players today do. I think whats causing the burnout though, isnt the volume of cricket but continuous jet-setting around the globe. When you keep losing hours and gaining hours at the drop of a hat, spend your whole playing career struggling with jetlag and substandard meals, your immune system is gonna break down and make you more vulnerable to injuries and illnesses.
Instead of cutting down on the playing time, I think ICC needs to do two things :

1. Designate a 2 month-long 'off season' where there is no cricket of any form ( this does present logistictal nightmares though - it would be hard to find a time of the year where all countries would agree to stop playing cricket for a month or two)

2. Abandon these 2-3 match test series and ODIs over dozens of destinations for 4-5 match test series and ODIs played in repeat venues in atleast a third of the ODI cases. For eg, the BCCI, instead of strewing every single series all over the subcontinent should try to keep the venues for the ODIs close to each other and shift regions with series ( ie, for eg, one series sees ODIs at Delhi,Kanpur, Chandigarh,Gwalior, the next series is something like Baroda,Nagpur,Mumbai,Goa, the next at Kolkata-Ranchi-Cuttak-Guwahati , etc etc).
 

Ikki

Hall of Fame Member
I don't know how the Indians feel about Sunil but, to me at least, he comes off very arrogant. In the Bangladesh V Australia tests, whenever he and Wasim are next to each other...Wasim seems much more humble. Sunil seems dismissive and reluctantly agrees on certain issues, but gives you the hint that he thinks you're wrong and he's right.
 

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
C_C said:
Ehhh ???
How is Sehwag lasting in today's schedule ? How is Inzy or Warne lasting ?
Is he really ?? Does Warne Play ODIs now ? And please get a list of matches Inzi has missed in last few years and that is despite being idle in the field for most of the day. Look at what happened to Tendulkar. Look at how many games ganguly missed in the later part of his career.

I really dont think there is too much cricket being played by players of these days.
If you add up the FC games and International games, you'd find that almost everyone in the 70s and 80s who played county cricket extensively logged in more days/year playing cricket than players today do.
Why dont you count how many 1st class games SunnyG played in his entire career and compare him to Sachin Tendulkar.
 

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
On second thought - Here is its :-

http://www.icc-cricket.com/india/content/player/28794.html

http://www.icc-cricket.com/india/content/player/35320.html

And please note that Sachin played most of his tests in five days, SunnyG played most of his tests with a day of rest in between, makes a lot of difference. Sunny G used to stand in the slip all day, Sachin is in the middle of the field running and saving runs. not to forget his bowling as well.

As for your logic about travelling, why are they travelling more, because they are playing more. Is it too hard to understand or you just have to argue and defend everything that is said by an Indian (or someone from Sub-continent) ?
 

C_C

International Captain
Sanz said:
Is he really ?? Does Warne Play ODIs now ? And please get a list of matches Inzi has missed in last few years and that is despite being idle in the field for most of the day. Look at what happened to Tendulkar. Look at how many games ganguly missed in the later part of his career.
The point is - you took a sideswipe at Gavaskar's fitness and batsmen can be quite tubby and get away with it. Players like Taylor, Warne, Sehwag, Inzy, etc. etc. are quite tubby and they definately lasted a long tough gruelling career.

Why dont you count how many 1st class games SunnyG played in his entire career and compare him to Sachin Tendulkar.
Why dont you count how many FC games were played by half the west indies team and the english team and then calculate the average days/year they spent on the field.
I maintain that too much cricket isnt the problem. Too much bunnyhopping and travelling is the problem.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
C_C said:
Why dont you count how many FC games were played by half the west indies team and the english team and then calculate the average days/year they spent on the field.
I maintain that too much cricket isnt the problem. Too much bunnyhopping and travelling is the problem.
I think you're right there. There is no more cricket played all up than there used to be, but there is much, much more international cricket. International cricket means training camps, constant travel, high pressure games, living away from home, constant media attention and so on. These things are much harder on players than playing for Sussex for a few days then heading home until the next game starts.
 

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
C_C said:
The point is - you took a sideswipe at Gavaskar's fitness and batsmen can be quite tubby and get away with it. Players like Taylor, Warne, Sehwag, Inzy, etc. etc. are quite tubby and they definately lasted a long tough gruelling career.
What does Gavaskar know about today's cricket (in terms of playing and travelling) to make a remark like that ? It is much easier to talk crap and accuse current players of whinning about 'excessive Cricket' than actually doing it. And yes Standing in the slip for 3 days when you dont have a fast bowler isn't count much for fielding.

And yeah Sehwag has had a very long tough Gruelling Career what is that 5 years ? How many ODIs did Mark Taylor play ? Steve Waugh didn't play ODIs during last two years of his career and stopped bowling since god knows when. Inzi, doesn't do anything else apart from batting and involving himself in ugly runouts snd still gets injured a lot of times.


Why dont you count how many FC games were played by half the west indies team and the english team and then calculate the average days/year they spent on the field.
I expected you to ignore the links about Tendulkar and Gavaskar and come up with the bullcrap you do every time. N gave you a count of no. of first class games played by Gavaskar and Tendulkar both premiere batsmen of their era

I maintain that too much cricket isnt the problem. Too much bunnyhopping and travelling is the problem.
And that travelling is because of Cricket, something you fail to understand and continue with your load of ******** . Tendulkar has played 250 ODIs more than SunnyG and do you know how much travelling that involves.
 

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