'Sir, can I take a photo with you?': Sunil Gavaskar outright refuses policeman's request, then instantly wins heart

It may be nearly four decades since Sunil Gavaskar last played for India but such is the enormity of what the batting great achieved in his career, and of his extensive work as a broadcaster ever since, that he continues to be a star attraction for cricket fans even after the emergence of some genuine greats since he retired. An example of that could reportedly be seen before the fourth T20I between India and England in Pune. Mumbai: Former cricketers Dilip Vengsarkar, Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri during the 50th anniversary celebration of the Wankhede Stadium, in Mumbai, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025. (PTI Photo/Kunal Patil)(PTI01_19_2025_000400B)(PTI)

According to the Mid-Day, Gavaskar was approached by police personnel on duty near the commentators' box for photographs “Sir, can I take a photo with you?” a policeman is quoted as saying and Gavaskar's one-word reply was somewhat surprising to the officer: “No.”

The report however then states that the former India captain smiled and said, “You cannot take just one photo. You can take two or three photos with me, and not one. What will you do with just one photo?”

Gavaskar unhappy with Mumbai's Test-level batters

Gavaskar was the first player in the history of the game to cross 10,000 runs in Test cricket. In a career spanning 16 years and 125 Tests, Gavaskar scored 10,122 runs at an average of 51.22 with a then-record 34 centuries and 45 half-centuries. He was also a prolific batter outside of international cricket, playing a total of 348 first class games in his career and scoring a whopping 25,834 runs at an average of 51.46 with 81 centuries and 105 half-centuries.

Gavaskar was at the forefront of demanding that India's senior players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli return to Ranji Trophy after their alarmingly poor form in the 2024/25 Test season. However, he wasn't too happy with how Rohit and Yashasvi Jaiswal performed in the Ranji match they ended up playing.

"Whether their hearts were in it or they did that only to ensure they were not stripped of their BCCI contracts, like Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were, after missing out on the Ranji Trophy games last year, is known only to them. Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s participation meant that Ayush Mhatre, who had got a couple of hundreds and some fifties, had to be left out of the Mumbai side. Hopefully, the youngster would have spent some time with both these players and picked their brains about adding to his batting ability," he said.

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