Sunil Gavaskar birthday special: Sunny Days and not only in cricket!

Sunil Gavaskar is actually much more than just an insatiable hunger for runs and flawless technique.

Sunil Gavaskar turns 71 today. And just saying his name makes most people rattle an abundance of cricket records – the first to ten thousand test runs, the first to reach thirty test centuries, the first to score three times a century in each inning of a test competition, and much more. The man was a run machine and arguably the greatest batsman of his time, no easy feat considering the era was like Viv Richards, Javed Miandad, Geoff Boycott and Greg Chappell. But Sunil Gavaskar is actually much more than just an insatiable hunger for runs and flawless technique. The man went beyond cricket and achieved achievements in a number of other areas, some totally unrelated to his sport. So even if people pay tribute to his performance at the tuck and remember his records on his birthday, here’s a look at some of the other hats this incredibly versatile cricketer wore (he never wore a helmet, so hat would be it):

Comic book hero

Yes, Gavaskar was actually the hero of a comic book series, which had at least three problems before disappearing. Gavaskar played the role of Sunny the Super Sleuth, a cricketer who is also an action hero. His costume was a rather bright orange headband tracksuit and he had enough gadgets to make James Bond jealous, including a jet belt, a cassette recorder with a TSE button (to stop erasing) and a specially fast car called the Marzuki! Of course, he scored many runs on the field (including a century against the rather oddly named Bandookistan) and also fought crime – once he saved an English cricket, Gotham is waiting. It was hardly anything at the DC Marvel level, but the illustrations were decent, and the text was littered with cricket-related puns. “They don’t call me a great stroke player for nothing,” he said memorable as he beat up a few bad guys and announced “they’re stumps, folks” before they started the massacre. The comics were launched in late 1984, but never really got underway and a year later they had taken their course. Anyway, Gavaskar may have become the only cricketer who was also a comic book superhero.

Silver screen hero

Long before he became a comic book hero, Gavaskar had also been one of the white cloths. He starred in a Marathi movie called “Savli Premachi” in 1980. The movie, which also featured the sister of one of India’s best-known referees, Piloo Reporter, and stars like Shreeram Lagoo and Vikram Gokhale. However, the movie did not do well. Gavaskar then reappeared in the Naserruddin Shah starrer Malamaal, in which he played himself and was part of the hero’s plans to spend a huge amount of money through a cricket match. He was also seen very briefly in Kabhi Ajnabi The, a movie starring another Indian cricketer, Sandeep Patil, but that was only part of general footage. Still, it was enough to provide him with his own IMDB page (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1076614/! Being comfortable on camera also allowed him to be the anchor of one of India’s first television cricket shows, Sunil Gavaskar Presents.

Ambassador of the brand

Cricketers who endorsed brands and products were not uncommon in India, but they were largely limited to products that could be widely associated with the sport – from the kit, to soda, to the odd shaving cream and knife, and of course, advertisements for their employers (banks, railways and so on). Some high-profile cricketers like Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi got more of an ad presentation, but through all accounts, Gavaskar took it to another level. There was a time when almost every other ad on Doordarshan (the only channel nearby) featured Gavaskar and sometimes his family. From Dinesh Gavaskar in Dinesh Suitings ads to the quintessential family in a Lipton Tea ad to hair dye ads to Forhans’ loving dad, Gavaskar was extremely visible in the ad world.

And this was in addition to the usual number of advertisements for soda (Thums Up), Cricket bats (Sanspareil Greenwoods), shoe bleaches (Cherry Blossom), and analgesic creams (Iodex). He also saw a commercial opportunity very quickly – he was one of the first players to actually place an ad on the back of his bat (MRF!). All these commercial activities led some to accuse him of too much money, but in the long run, there is no doubt that Gavaskar made cricket players, who were not very well paid, aware of the earning potential of commercial notes. He would continue to be in demand for ads even after he retired, with a memorable Coke ad featuring arguably India’s second-biggest opening batsman, Virender Sehwag.

Best-selling author

It was common for many star players to write a book or two during their career, more to cash in on their popularity than to convey their side of the story. Gavaskar wrote four! And the first of these, Sunny Days, released in 1976, is considered by many to be a new dimension to cricket autobiography. The book, written with surprising directness and dry humor, provoked a lot of controversy, mainly because of its criticism of the Kingston crowd, who he said “proved without a doubt that these people still belonged to the jungles and forests, rather than to a civilized country ”, but it turned out to be a big bestseller. It also attracted a lot of international attention, which was unusual for a book by an Indian cricketer. After a period of relative calm as an author, Gavaskar published three books in almost the same number of years, an achievement that many bestselling authors would be jealous of.

Sunil Gavaskar has written four books so far.

These were Idols (1983) who practiced cricketers who inspired him, Run N ‘Ruins (1985) on India’s travels through Pakistan and the West Indies in 1983-84 and finally One Day Wonders (1985) on the surprising victory of India at WCC 1985. All of them, apart from Idols (which was a series of tributes), were written using the same direct style that made Sunny Days such a hit – his confession that he hit a ball against Pakistan but didn’t run because there two teams were the ones that Pakistan and Mafatlal would never ‘run into’, drew controversy! Not surprisingly, they all did very well, establishing Gavaskar some distance away as arguably the best player-writer in the sport in India. Three of those books – Sunny Days, Idols, and One Day Wonders – are still on sale in a single edition, now titled The Sunil Gavaskar Omnibus, and by all accounts, they still find readers galore.

Although he has never written a book after those four (and there are many calls for a ‘definitive autobiography’), he has since been a regular columnist in many publications and is as direct as ever. A notable feature of the writer Gavaskar is that he is one of the few athletes who has always written his books alone, without the help of other writers, such as general practice. Just like on the fold, he plays with a straight bat!

… and a real hero

In 1993 tensions in Mumbai were high after a series of bombings. Under these circumstances, a crowd had surrounded a family, clearly planning to do damage. One person left the safety of his house, confronted them all, and told them to come over before they could hurt anyone.

Sunil Manohar Gavaskar.
Congratulations, Sunny!

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