Big Honour! Sunil Gavaskar to have cricket stadium named after him in Zanzibar in East Africa

New Delhi, June 9: Sunil Gavaskar has achieved several records and honours in his career as a cricketer and even after his retirement as an India cricketer.

But at 72, Gavaskar still basks in the glory of newer honours bestowed on him, rightfully too.

Gavaskar will soon see a stadium is being built over his name in Zanzibar, capital of Tanzania in Eastern Africa. It will be known as Sunil Gavaskar Cricket Stadium.

In fact, the foundation stone of the stadium was laid last week after the completion of IPL 2022 and Gavaskar himself was present for the ceremony.

Gavaskar is the goodwill ambassador of East Africa, and had also played against them in the 1975 World Cup in England, the first edition of the global tournament.

Gavaskar is the first batsman to go past 10000 runs in the Test cricket and held the record for most runs and most centuries in Test cricket together for a while.

But several years after his retirement Gavaskar maintains his enthusiasm for cricket and new talents and keep a close watch on them in the IPL 2022 too as a commentator.

Gavaskar couldn't stop gushing about Umran Malik's pace and accuracy throughout the IPL and the batting great wants the right-arm seamer in the Indian squad as soon as possible.

Gavaskar said: “Umran Malik has been very-very impressive with his speed but more than his speed, it's his accuracy that's impressed me the most. A lot of guys who bowl at that speed tend to spray the ball around but Umran bowls very few wide deliveries.

“If he can control the wides down the leg side, he will be a tremendous bowler because that will mean he'll be attacking the stumps all the time, and with his pace, it's not easy to hit straight.

“If he bowls wicket-to-wicket, he will be pretty much an unplayable bowler. He's going to play for India. He should be in that Indian squad for the one-off Test and the ODI series against England.”