The moment they lock up their bats, they drop their professional reserve. Admittedly they'd still rather refrain from courting controversy, but the irritation of an autocratic but confused BCCI breathing down their necks has gone. Anyway Jimmy is swapping old stories. I had three actually. And wherever I went it was the first thing I packed.
Superstition is the bedrock of all sport.
Sunil Gavaskar, so goes the story, had to wear something new every match. All three of these men have been fine players, batsmen of skill but as much of character. Vengsarkar had a right-handed elegance, a man whose understanding of the moment was exemplified by his three centuries at Lord's. And Jimmy's defiance of the West Indies, his hooking burnt into the memory, was the stuff of schoolboy legend. We talk about Rahul Dravid's form.