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Viswanath, Gavaskar remember Ajit Wadekar

Former India cricketers GR Viswanath and Sunil Gavaskar pay tribute to ex captain Ajit Wadekar who passed away on August 15

By Unnikrishnan
Former India captain Ajit Wadekar was remembered fondly by his teammates

Bengaluru, August 30: Ajit Wadekar left a rich legacy behind him as a cricketer. But the former Indian skipper will evoke even warmer memories as a team-mate and skipper.

Gundappa Viswanath, who played under Wadekar in the 1971 series against the West Indies and against England in 1974, paid rich tributes to his captain. Wadekar, 77, passed away on August 15 after a long battle with cancer.

"Ajit told me that he is not bothered about what I had done earlier and that he did not want to see me in the dressing room till the scoreboard showed the runs that had to be scored for victory. I did not know if it was a joke, as Sunny would say, or serious, and I did not know how to take it. He wanted to win the Oval Test badly," Viswanath was quoted as saying by the Hindu.

KUMBLE, TENDULKAR REMEMBERS WADEKAR </a>| <a class=INDIAN CRICKETERS PAY TRIBUTE | WADEKAR CREMATED WITH STATE HONOURS" title="KUMBLE, TENDULKAR REMEMBERS WADEKAR | INDIAN CRICKETERS PAY TRIBUTE | WADEKAR CREMATED WITH STATE HONOURS" />KUMBLE, TENDULKAR REMEMBERS WADEKAR | INDIAN CRICKETERS PAY TRIBUTE | WADEKAR CREMATED WITH STATE HONOURS

Viswanath maded 33 runs and was out when India was three runs short of the target. "I could not remember scoring the first 30 runs of an innings without a boundary hit, but here I made 33 without a boundary shot. Maybe because Ajit told me that I can do it in singles. He always used to call me 'Vishayda' and on that occasion he said 'Vishyda, I want runs from you. There are others who are getting runs, but I want runs from you because I want to watch you play... I love your batting. I grew up watching him bat.

"Even though I played against Bombay and wanted my team to win, I wanted to see how much Ajit scored. The amount of runs he scored before playing for India was unbelievable. He was selected to play for India very late. He played so easily, had no follow through, he just used to guide the ball. He is one of the best left-handers I have ever seen.

"Chandra always used to say: "I cannot bowl to him (Ajit)." He was amazing... I did not know whether he was defending or playing a stroke, the ball raced to the boundary. I will always miss him," he said.

Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar, who made his Test debut under Wadekar, said: "We used to go to Ajit's room during the 1971 tour of the West Indies. The atmosphere used to be tremendous... all talking cricket. He was not good at keeping time for meetings; he used to be late. He was my first Bombay and India captain and I will remember him fondly."

Story first published: Thursday, August 30, 2018, 17:02 [IST]
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