Our batting finished at No 3 in this World Cup: Gavaskar

He was a short man but he strode the cricketing world like a colossus. By his own admission “shorter men make better batsmen because they have a lower centre of gravity which allows them to play equally well against the quicks and quality spinners both on the back and front foot”.Earlier this month, the iconic opening batsman celebrated his 70th birthday but this was somewhat marred by India losing the World Cup semi-final to New Zealand. He talks at length about his peers and the current lot.

Our batting this World Cup finished at number 3. If these batsmen didn’t get runs as was seen in the semis, then we were always going to be in trouble.

That’s a totally made up story like so many others about me. Fact is during the India tour of England in 1986, Imran and I had lunch where I told him that I was planning to retire at the end of that tour. He said to me that I shouldn’t do it as Pakistan was due to tour India the following February. He said his ambition was to beat India in India and it wouldn’t be the same if I wasn’t in the Indian team then. I told him then that if the Pakistan tour was not announced by the time the England tour ended, I would retire at the end of the tour. It was announced within a fortnight, so I postponed the retirement.

Oh yes, there was gas left in the tank but I wasn’t enjoying driving the car so it was better to get out then.

It’s not that Mumbai cricket has gone down, it’s just that other states have raised the level of their game which is why Indian cricket is in such a healthy state with its talent pool.

Have you forgotten India’s greatest match winner, Kapil Dev? He was the one who showed that you don’t have to come from a metro to be a successful cricketer. Before that there were great players from non-metros too, like Col CK Nayudu, Vijay Hazare, Mushtaq Ali to name just three and the regularity of non-metro players started after Kapil showed them how.

Sadly, Indian cricket is full of stories where it’s suited people to try drive a wedge between players. From Col CK Nayudu’s time it is been the practice. Thanks to the PR guys of current cricketers, any such move is nipped in the bud today. For the record for whatever it is worth Kapil and I have always had a mutually respectful relationship. We were always aware that Indian cricket came before anything else.

The protective equipment today is so good that the batsmen are hardly in physical danger. This is a terrific development as nobody wants to see any serious injury on the field. The best fast bowler I faced was Andy Roberts who had the knack of bowling the unplayable ball even in the 60th over. There was no restriction on the bouncers then, so the length was generally where you were playing off the back foot most of the time. The pitches especially in England, Australia and New Zealand had a fair amount of grass on them.