Sunil Gavaskar showed immense confidence in me, reveals Laxman Sivaramakrishnan
Former Indian cricketer Laxman Sivaramakrishnan revealed that Sunil Gavaskar was a brilliant skipper and showed a lot of confidence in him. Laxman Sivaramakrishnan's leg spin, in tandem with Ravi Shastri's left-arm off-breaks were an important part of skipper Sunil Gavaskar's plans during the 1985 Benson and Hedges World Championship, wherein India emerged victorious.
In an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda's Indranil Basu on Facebook, the 54-year-old opened up on these facets and elaborated how Sunil Gavaskar's stewardship also helped the former get acclimatized to international cricket.
"Sunil Gavaskar had a lot of confidence in me and would allow me to set my own fields once I settled in. So the captain giving you confidence that you are good enough to be at this level was immense for me and Sunil Gavaskar gave me that confidence and managed me really well. Winning in 1985 was important as it proved that 1983 World Cup win was no fluke and that India had arrived on the scene in white-ball cricket. We had a terrific team and all the eleven had first-class hundreds so the quality of all-rounders we had is not seen now," he said.
Sunil Gavaskar possessed excellent man-management skills
Laxman Sivaramakrishnan also heaped praise on Sunil Gavaskar's presence of mind, both on the field and also off it. He revealed an incident in the nets where the former Indian skipper told Laxman Sivaramakrishnan to bowl only leg spin and not use variations as the Australian media would capture his repertoire of deliveries, meaning that he would be found out easily in the match.
Although Sunil Gavaskar didn't captain India at a World Cup, his shrewdness and man-management attributes led the Men In Blue to victory at the 1985 Benson and Hedges World Championship.
"A day before the first match of the 1985 Benson and Hedges championship, Sunil Gavaskar told me and Ravi that let’s go for lunch. So we went back to the hotel, had a shower and went for lunch and over lunch Sunil Gavaskar asked me what field you would like to bowl to. That’s man management and showing confidence in the cricketer," Laxman Sivaramakrishnan stated.