Former India batsman Jaisimha, who died in 1999, was Gavaskar’s hero and it is fitting that the first lecture, which is part of the ML Jaisimha Sports Foundation, is held in the golden jubilee year of India’s 1971 win in the West Indies. Jaisimha was part of that Ajit Wadekar-led team.
ML Jaisimha is seated to the right of skipper Ajit Wadekar in a group picture of the Indian team which beat the West Indies in 1971. Gavaskar is standing second from left.
Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar delivered the first Dilip Sardesai Memorial Lecture in 2009. Today in Secunderabad, he will deliver the inaugural ML Jaisimha Lecture.
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Gavaskar was in Pune on Sunday, commentating on the final India v England ODI.
Former India batsman Jaisimha, who died in 1999, was Gavaskar’s hero and it is fitting that the first lecture, which is part of the ML Jaisimha Sports Foundation, is held in the golden jubilee year of India’s 1971 win in the West Indies. Jaisimha was part of that Ajit Wadekar-led team.
In a Foreword to the book My Way - The Biography of ML Jaisimha by A Joseph Antony with Jayanthi Jaisimha, Gavaskar wrote: “When I was picked for India it was wonderful to have him [Jaisimha] in the tour party. I got the opportunity not only to bat with him but also to talk about cricket and life in general. One could go to him for any problem. Even if he did not have a solution, he was a great listener making all the correct sympathetic responses.”
Jaisimha was dropped after the opening Test in 1971 at Kingston. It was a hard decision for captain Wadekar but in the skipper’s words, “he took it like the sportsman that he is and assured me that I could always depend on him.”
The stylish batsman returned to the team for the fourth (Barbados) and fifth (Trinidad) Tests of the series which India won 1-0. Jaisimha didn’t play for India again. The Indian team later toured England and won there too but Wadekar was not coy to admit in My Cricketing Years that he missed Jaisimha’s “reassuring presence.”
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