50th anniversary of Sunil Gavaskar’s Test debut celebrated at Shyam Bhatia Museum in Dubai

Sunil Gavaskar had made his Test debut on March 6, 1971, and Bhatia wanted to celebrate its 50^th anniversary at his museum

By K.R. Nayar

The 50^th anniversary of the Test debut of legendary Indian cricketer and former Indian opener and captain Sunil Gavaskar, was celebrated at the Shyam Bhatia Museum in Dubai in the presence of ‘Indiaspora Global Connect’ delegates from the US, the UK and Canada. It turned out to be a special evening where Gavaskar stressed on the need to appreciate fans and cricket lovers of the game.

Shyam Bhatia, the UAE-based cricket aficionado, has always tried to honour legends of the game on their landmark achievements.

Sunil Gavaskar had made his Test debut on March 6, 1971, and Bhatia wanted to celebrate its 50^th anniversary at his museum. Since Gavaskar has been busy with his broadcast commitments and was in the bubble during the last few months, Bhatia was looking for an appropriate time to make sure that Sunny, as he affectionately addresses him given their nearly five decades old friendship, is honoured and presented a memento.

There was nothing special about December 15, 2021. But Bhatia made it special by creating a special moment in the history of this museum. He invited the Indiaspora Global Connect delegation, a non-profit global Indian diaspora currently are touring the UAE, to his museum. The members who came from the US, Canada and the UK, were given a tour of the museum and told there was a surprise waiting for them. After showing the delegates many mementos from Gavaskar, Bhatia announced that the legend would himself be present in real and will be honoured in front of them. None could believe their eyes when Gavaskar walked in and greeted each one of them.

Gavaskar gave a patient hearing to almost everyone who went up to him and discussed some of his great knocks that they had enjoyed.

Addressing the gathering, Bhatia said the idea for his museum was mooted by Gavaskar himself and he feels happy he could honour him here.

In his speech, Gavaskar iterated how important it was to appreciate fans and cricket lovers. “For us cricketers, sometimes we take fans and cricket lovers for granted. We don’t often understand the effort they put in to stay in touch with the game because of the game they love. This [museum] is mind blowing. He says that I gave him the idea or B, C or D gave him ideas… but at the end of the day the effort has to be what Shyam has put in. You can see the love and affection with which he has built this…which is amazing. This is like his baby.”

Old friendship ties

Gavaskar then elaborated on his relationship with Bhatia. “Shyam is an example of somebody who wanted to play cricket but wasn’t able to make a career of it. Cricket, during the time we were growing up, wasn’t a career option. It has become a career option only in the last 15 years or so. Now it is a good thing having cricket as a career option. I have a couple of doctor friends, who, if they had carried on playing, could have actually played at the highest level but cricket wasn’t a career option then. So, cricket’s loss has actually been medicine’s gain. Then that is how life is…”

Bhatia presented Gavaskar with a memento and requested him to sign the poster made for the occasion and cut a cake. “I am just absolutely floored by Shyam’s gesture of having this for me and this memento he has created for me. This is absolutely fantastic and the hard work that Shyam puts in is unbelievable.”

Talking about Bhatia’s constant pursuit of enlarging his museum’s collection, Gavaskar said, “Wherever he [Shyam] goes, he is only thinking in terms of how to add more to the museum, and how to make the museum a little more colourful. He is always thinking about how people who walk in to the museum will be able to get a sense of what cricket was in the black and white days compared to the techni colour days. So, thank you Shyam for all the efforts you put in. We are fortunate to have a cricket lover like you and may you keep loving the game.”

Bhatia then presented his book ‘Portraits of the Game’ to MR Rangaswami, who founded Indiaspora, a non-profit community of powerful global Indian leaders from diverse backgrounds and professions who are committed to inspiring the diaspora to be a force for good by providing a platform to collaborate, engage, and catalyse social change.

Gavaskar also signed a caricature of him presented by Gopal Jasapara, the curator of this museum. He also wrote on the poster welcoming him to the museum for this special occasion: “What a delight to be at the museum again. God bless you Shyam.”

(This article has been used in arrangement with www.cricketlovers.com; All images in this article are courtesy https://krbuzz.blogspot.com)

KR Nayar is a senior cricket writer and analyst. He has covered more than 200 One-Day International matches including for Champions Trophy, Asia Cup etc. He has worked as a chief cricket writer for the Gulf News in the UAE for over two decades.