Gavaskar’s repartee

As millions of people tune in to see the final one-dayer of the India-Pakistan cricket series, here’s a trip back to another era when another little master ruled the wickets

This is an archived blog post from The Acorn.

At a reception for the team which toured Pakistan in the early Eighties, the then BCCI chief, N.K.P. Salve, walked Sunil Gavaskar up to Mallika-e-Tarannum Noorjehan: “Have you met the great Sunil Gavaskar?” Barely had Salve turned to Sunny than the lady, known for her myriad moods, declared: “No, Imran (Khan) is the only cricketer I know.”

“Oh!” muttered Salve. “But Sunny, you must have heard of Noorjehan…” Never one to let snobbery go unpunished, Gavaskar was quick to despatch the Noorjehan googly to where it belonged: “No, the only singer I’ve heard of is Lata Mangeshkar.”[Vinod Sharma/Hindustan Times](Noor Jehan was a pre-partition melody queen who migrated to Pakistan after Partition.)

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