Throwback: Sunil Gavaskar recalls Hilarious Encounter with a Pitch Invader at Lord’s featuring Kris Srikaanth

Add as a preferred source on Google

Cricket has given us countless unforgettable moments during the passage of play. However, some incidents stand out for their unpredictability. One such episode took place during India's tour of England at Lord’s in 1986, where India’s batting great Sunil Gavaskar found himself in the middle of a rather bizarre situation.

Even decades later, this strange story continues to bring a smile to the faces of the fans. It was the closing years of Gavaskar’s illustrious cricketing venture and the stage was set at the world’s most famous venue.

The match was going ahead as usual when suddenly, out of nowhere, a female streaker happened to storm onto the field. Surprisingly, she wasn’t just any streaker but was armed with a banner that had the caption written, “Bring Back Botham”.

The pitch invader was protesting the suspension of England’s Ian Botham, who had been sidelined from the match for smoking cannabis. Cut to the chase, just imagine being Sunil Gavaskar, one of the most focused and disciplined cricketers in the sport, suddenly finding himself face-to-face with a pitch invader.

It was at that moment, the entire cricketing fraternity held its breath, wondering how the legendary Gavaskar would react in the first place. In fact, his major concern was not about the unexpected visitor but the pitch because she ran onto the danger area.

Gavaskar was worried about the damage that could be caused to the good length area. In a light-hearted retelling of the weird incident, Gavaskar later shared how he tried to politely but firmly ask the streaker to stay away from the pitch.

"So she came, more like ran over, and at that time she was wearing heels. She came onto the pitch, and my only concern was that the pitch, especially the good length area, shouldn’t get damaged because of those big heels she was wearing," Sunil Gavaskar recalled with a chuckle.

Well, he was not the only one caught off guard by the incident. Kris Srikanth, who was batting alongside Gavaskar, was having a tough time at the crease. He didn’t middle the balls properly. When Srikanth finally noticed the streaker, he was understandably flustered. But Gavaskar went up to him and said, “Don’t worry, don’t worry, don’t worry.”

The situation took a funny turn when the cops arrived and escorted the streaker off the field. Meanwhile, Gavaskar, still focused on the game, couldn’t help but notice that the ball was not really coming off the bat as it should have. The bowler seemed particularly annoyed, almost as if he was more upset with the invader than with the batsmen.

The incident remains one of those quirky moments in cricket history. On a lighter note, the next time you come across someone mention streakers or pitch invaders, just remember this hilarious encounter that happened in the home of cricket. Well, it is not every day that cricketers have to be concerned about high heels on the pitch.