INDIA: Sunil Gavaskar and Sourav Ganguly are undoubtedly two of Indian cricket’s greatest legends. The iconic opening batsmen have 10,000 runs in ODIs and Tests and, coincidentally, even share the same initials.
Sourav Ganguly and Sunil Gavaskar made a double century in their 99th Test match, respectively. Gavaskar scored 236 against West Indies in 1983 and set his career-high Test score.
Twenty-four years later, Ganguly recorded his first and only Test double-century, scoring 239 in Bengaluru against Pakistan.
Interestingly, both Ganguly and Gavaskar are avid fans of football. In 2014, Sourav Ganguly was one of the founding members of Atletico de Kolkata. He also played a crucial role during the merger with Mohun Bagan.
On the other hand, Gavaskar claims he has always been a big Arsenal fan. Arsenal is an EPL team. The former India captain is more of an admirer than a fan, but Gavaskar has always admired two of Arsenal FC’s greatest legends.
Gavaskar, while speaking on “The Extra Innings Show” on a media channel ahead of the second Test match between India and Bangladesh, said that he had been an Arsenal supporter even though he stepped short of calling himself a fan.
He reminisced that he used to mock his son, a Manchester United supporter, who would ask him to name four players from the Arsenal team.
Gavaskar would respond by naming Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, and Arsene Wenger, who he felt had an uncanny resemblance to his hero ML Jaisimha. Gavaskar added that he admired watching Henry and had also received a signed shirt from Henry.
Bergkamp, who played for the Gunners, scored 120 goals in 423 games and will go down as a legend of all time in Gunner’s history.
Henry comes in a close second with 228 goals across all matches between 1999 and 2007. Many football fans regard Henry as one of the greatest strikers of all time.
As Arsenal’s all-time leading goal scorer, he has won two FA Cups. He has won the same number of EPL titles with the Gunners. He also featured in the Arsenal team during its invincible 2003-04 Premier League season campaign.
After that, unexpectedly, Gavaskar turned his attention to Ganguly, another football fan. He said the former BCCI president had the shirt that the former Arsenal captain had signed and promised to get it back during India vs. Sri Lanka series that starts next month.
Gavaskar asked Sourav Ganguly if he still had that shirt. He said he is coming to Kolkata for the 2nd ODI match between India and Sri Lanka on the twelfth of January. He said, “You are no longer the president,” before adding that Ganguly would have more spare time.
Gavaskar added, “Please find that shirt Henry signed for me and give it to me when I go there on the 12th.”
Also Read: A Peek at Pioneer of New-Age Indian Cricket Sourav Ganguly’s Life as He Turns 50 Today
