When Gavaskar and Viv Richards revisited the days that made them legends

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An interesting episode of Midwicket Stories, presented by Nishant Dayal and Jaya Prasad, brought together two legends of a generation that defined cricket in its own way — Sunil Gavaskar and Sir Vivian Richards.

The two icons, representing India and the West Indies, shared a candid conversation filled with laughter, playful banter and memories from a time when they often found themselves on opposite sides of the field.

One of the most fascinating stories came from Gavaskar, who recalled an incident while fielding at forward short leg in New Zealand. With the Indian captain, Bishan Singh Bedi, temporarily off the field, Gavaskar, then the vice-captain, had to take charge.

“Bishan Singh Bedi was a captain who was off the field for some time,” he said. “I was the vice-captain. So I was leading the side and Prasanna was bowling. And I looked for somebody to come in, you know, stand at forward short leg. And everybody had their backs to me. Within a couple of deliveries, I was taken to the hospital because Lance Cairns was batting. He just tapped the ball, but if he had smashed it, maybe my head would have gone. But he just tapped it. And I got hit on the cheekbone.”

There was no television coverage in those days. Gavaskar recalled how his wife, who was expecting at the time, was left frightened after hearing about the incident through radio commentary. He eventually needed plastic surgery to repair the injury.

Richards, meanwhile, looked back on his Test debut during the 1974 tour of India and admitted that even he — one of cricket’s most feared hitters — felt nervous.

“And, wow, I’m going to India, 60,000 people in the stadium at Bangalore,” he recalled. “That was pretty frightening. Also, you had the firecrackers used to go off on a regular basis.”

He even remembered falling to the bottom of the stairs because of nerves and admitted being terrified of India’s spinners. At one point during a match, Richards was so anxious that he went and lay down on the physiotherapist’s table. The moment a wicket fell, however, he was called up to bat — leaving him with little choice but to face his fears.

Gavaskar then remembered the intimidating atmosphere created by Bhagwat Chandrasekhar’s long run-up, with the crowd roaring “bollllllddd” before the ball had even reached the batter.

Perhaps the most human part of the conversation, however, was the way the two legends kept pulling each other’s leg — joking about who had dismissed whom and even suggesting that they may have tried to distract each other while batting.

After all these years, the rivalry had clearly turned into something much more personal: two greats simply enjoying each other’s company and the shared memories of a remarkable era.

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