February 10, 1981
The previous tour of Australia had seen Sunil Gavaskar score three hundreds. But that had been against a bland Australian side, with the cream and the second layer indulging in the Packer Circus.
When he returned Down Under in 1980-81, this time as captain, Dennis Lillee and Len Pascoe steamed in with the new ball. Gavaskar started to fail, and kept failing.
Till the first innings of the third and final Test at Melbourne, his run of scores had been 0, 10, 23, 5, 10. He was desperate for runs. Perhaps more so because the only other time he had faced Lillee had been in the 1971-72 series for the Rest of the World, and he had been less than successful on that occasion as well. It was perhaps a personal quest for perfection.
In the second innings at Melbourne, he seemed on his way to redeeming himself. He was batting on 70 when a low off-cutter from Lillee struck him on the pad. According to Gavaskar it came off a thick inside edge. But, umpire Rex Whitehead’s finger went up, leaving a seething Indian opener wildly gesturing that there was a nick.
As he stood there protesting, Lillee approached and helpfully showed him exactly where his pad had been struck. And as Gavaskar dragged his unwilling feet away from the crease, there were remarks from some Australian that did not exactly amuse him.
Gavaskar lost it. He beckoned his partner Chetan Chauhan and asked him to walk out with him. Captain's orders meant Chauhan grudgingly walked off. To the confused commentary box it seemed that the Indians were forfeiting the match.
There could have been a diplomatic crisis. Luckily, better senses prevailed in the dressing room. Wing Commander Shahid Durrani, manager of the Indian side, met the batsmen at the fence. The reluctantly returning Chauhan was stopped on the ground and made to go back into the middle. The following batsman Dilip Vengsarkar was asked to make his way onto the pitch. Gavaskar, yet to be mollified, was still gesticulating wildly, but finally disappeared into the pavilion.
India won the Test and squared the series through an inspired spell by Kapil Dev, but Gavaskar’s petulance went down as a dark chapter in his story.
Bobby Simpson called it an "unfortunate and indefensible act". Years later, Lillee was somewhat more colourful in his description: "He spat the dummy right out of the pram."
Text: Arunabha
Illustration: Maha