Happy Sunny days

Commentator Mike Haysman talks of a fascinating conversation with Sunil Gavaskar over dinner, where the former Indian batsman used to head to cinemas of Mumbai as a kid, not to watch movies but to catch newsreels of cricket matches. In the age before television in India, Gavaskar made best use of every given opportunity to catch his idols, sometimes hopping from one theater to another. Read on in Supercricket.

On a good day Sunny could not be happier. Once he got his cricketing fix from the news reel he would leap out of his seat and sprint with serious intent for the exit. He had another scheme in place. Sunny would realise that the staggered showing times of the latest movies would provide a unique opportunity. He could sprint from one cinema to the other in metropolitan Mumbai, and after purchasing a full price ticket at each, could sometimes catch about five minutes of precious cricket in an afternoon. That was utopia for a young Gavaskar.