The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) honoured former India captain Sunil Gavaskar by unveiling a statue in his likeness and also displayed former Indian board and MCA president Sharad Pawar’s newly-crafted statue. The association inaugurated a museum named after the veteran administrator as well on Saturday.
Gavaskar was overwhelmed to see his statue outside the museum.
“You know, it doesn’t happen to everybody that you know there is a statue just outside the museum, where there’s going to be so much more footfall to see the museum. And so every time you enter the museum to be able to see the statue. So that is something unique, and so I am overwhelmed. I’ve said in the past Mumbai is like my mother, she has held my hand when I was beginning with cricket at the school level, playing for Mumbai,” Gavaskar said after the function.
The MCA had decided to build life-size statues earlier this year along with their museum. It has also revived its vintage Kanga league library. The new museum caters to cricket of the past and present and the MCA has added some local flavour to it by having a small BEST and Train section which resonates with the struggle that every Mumbaikar faces.
Gavaskar’s Dadar Union cap tale
Gavaskar narrated the story of how he once decided to wear his club Dadar Union’s cap while playing for India in Australia. Gavaskar was a superstitious player during the 1981 series tour to Australia. In Melbourne, Kapil Dev had taken five wickets and a day before the game he was unwell.
“He (Kapil) took injections, and then painkilling injections, and he came on to bowl. And it was a touch and go situation. And I am superstitious, as you probably know. I had my Dadar Union cap which was lucky, and that is the reason I wore that cap that day, not the India cap. (Australia) had to score some 60, 80 runs and then they’d lose three wickets. So the importance of that cap is not just for the Dadar Union. It was worn on the day India beat Australia in 1981 in Melbourne,” Gavaskar narrated.
The museum houses artifacts ranging from Bapu Nadkarni’s blazer to Rohit Sharma’s World Cup winning T shirt. (Express photo)
The MCA president Ajinkya Naik informed the association had sent a few options to Gavaskar on what batting action he wanted and the veteran chose the shot he played to get to 10000 Test runs.
Story continues below this ad
“We sent him a few photographs and he chose this one. It is a big day for MCA as we have managed to capture this history in one place. A lot of thought has gone into building this museum. We wanted the next generation to witness our rich history and the hard work each one has put in,” Naik said.
Gavaskar recalls how he used to drop in to read at the Kanga League library which had vintage and sporting books.
“I used to go there when the Kanga Library was at the CCI North Stand and then it came here as well. And I used to go and pick up books and I’ve also donated some books in the past. I think I will now donate some of the cricket books I have to the library. It doesn’t have to be the coming generation but also the earlier generation who can go through some of the books and biographies,” he added.
