Sunil Gavaskar is never short on words when it comes to GR Viswanath. After all, Vishy is his favourite batsman.
On Thursday, when Viswanath, one of India’s finest and most stylish batsmen ever, was bestowed the Castrol Lifetime Achievement Award, Gavaskar reiterated his famous views, describing him as the best Indian batsman. “He had more shots than most batsmen. The balls, which most of us were either leaving or defending, would be hit by him. Vishy could score off a good ball,” Gavaskar said.
Sunny then recalled two of Vishy’s best knocks. “His two best knocks – 97 and 124 – came against the West Indies in Chennai. One of the knocks (97) came off an attack led by Andy Roberts.
Accepting the award, Vishwanath, who made his debut against Australia in Kanpur in 1969, said that he cherished his century on his debut match. “The first hundred will always remain the best because in the first innings I had got out on a duck. There was something going on in my mind. I was thinking that I won’t get a chance. However, in the second innings I got one. The pitch was good and I went on to play aggressively. The whole crowd erupted in applause,” Vishy said.
He revealed that skipper Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi had asked him to strengthen his wrists and also explained how to do it. “He told me that I am a good batsman, short and aggressive, but cannot clear the ball to the boundary. So he asked me to work on my wrists and forearms. He advised me to lift buckets with each hand to strengthen my wrist.”
The award, carrying a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh, was presented to him by Gavaskar.
Meanwhile, Gautam Gambhir bagged the Indian Cricketer of the Year and the Indian Batsman of the Year while Virender Sehwag and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni claimed the Test and One Day player awards. Harbhajan Singh walked away with the Indian Bowler of the Year while Saurashtra all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was given the Junior Cricketer of the year.
Meanwhile, batting maestro Sachin Tendular and Rahul Dravid were given special awards for highest Test runs and catches, respectively.
