India head coach Ravi Shastri unveiled the portrait of his former skipper Sunil Gavaskar for the Bowral Museum on the eve of the third Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday.
Shastri showered praise on his former India skipper and explained why he believes that Gavaskar was the best opening batsman he had seen.
"Gavaskar is easily the best opening batsman I have ever seen. I had the privilege to play under him. He was the master tactician, nothing fazed him. 13 hundred against West Indies is a tribute to the way he played the game and in his prime, he was called the Mumbai Bradman when he was getting all those hundreds. For me it's an honour to unveil this," Shastri said in a video posted by BCCI.
The coach also launched a new book 'India's 71-Year Test: The Journey to Triumph in Australia'.According to a report in cricket.com.au, the book features more than 200 pictures, many of which were found languishing in the United States of America (USA) and purchased by former Australia Test opener Wally Edwards who donated them to the Bradman Museum collection.
"It was an honour because the history of Indian cricket and Australian cricket goes deep. I was fascinated after reading the first four or five chapters of this book," said Shastri."You get goosebumps in the early stages, Lala Amarnath coming here, Vinoo Mankad coming here. Bradman playing against India and India playing against New South Wales, Hazare getting 200, it's fascinating," he added.
Meanwhile, the four-match series between India and Australia currently stands level at 1-1 and the third Test is slated to be played at the SCG from Thursday.
Rohit Sharma made a return to the Indian team for the Pink Test against Australia while pacer Navdeep Saini is set to make his debut in the longest format of the game.
India on Wednesday named the playing XI for the Pink Test. Opening batsman Mayank Agarwal has been dropped from the side as Rohit replaces him. Gill will open the innings with Rohit after playing knocks of 45 and 35* in his debut Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Saini comes in for speedster Umesh Yadav. The latter sustained a strain in his left calf muscle on Day 3 of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne and has returned to India after he was ruled out of the series.
