Did not look at scoreboard while batting: Sunil Gavaskar

PTI

Kolkata, December 1

Cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar, who amassed over 13,000 international runs in his career, said he did not look at the scoreboard while batting and never set targets at the crease.

The former India captain also said his aim was to always bat sessions in Test matches, beginning from the start of play till stumps.

“I didn’t look at the scoreboard when I was batting, because every batsman has his own way of setting targets. Small targets are what the coaches tell you first, getting to 10, 20 and 30, which is a good way,” Gavaskar said.

To get rid of the pressure in reaching a particular target, one should play each ball on its merit without looking at the scoreboard, Gavaskar said while speaking at the ‘Spotlight Session’ during INFOCOM 2022, an IT event organised by the ABP Group here on Thursday.

“The way I was looking at is that if my target was to get to 30, if I got to anywhere around 24-25, I would be very anxious then to try and get to 30. I would then play at a ball outside off stump or something, nick it and be out for say 26, trying to hit the boundary that would have got me to 30,” he said.

Sharing an interesting anecdote, Gavaskar said he did not even realise when he had equalled Sir Don Bradman’s 29th Test century, as he did not have the habit of looking at the scoreboard.

“I didn’t have any idea till (Dilip) Vengsarkar came and told me about the achievement,” he added.

Gavaskar equalled Bradman’s record of 29 Test centuries in 1983 against West Indies in New Delhi.

The batting wizard said his objective was to get a 100 each time he went out to bat.

“The prize that I put on my wicket was invariably a 100. I always wanted a century; that’s the minimum I wanted to get… Obviously that was impossible, even Sir Don Bradman couldn’t do it in every inning. So, my whole idea was to bat sessions; first sesssion to lunch, then to tea and then to the close of play,” he said.