Sunny Days is the fascinating account of the growth of one of Indias greatest batsmen; one whose astonishing feats on the cricket field have caused innumerable records to be re-written, and set close to impossible targets.
How did the story of Sunil Manohar Gavaskar begin? What was the genesis of the man who grew to be a legend in his own lifetime?
The story starts with a baby being switched after birth luckily restored by an eagle-eyed uncle; he grows up to almost break his mothers nose with a mighty hit (a childhood habit that persists in later life); plays good cricket in school and college; inevitably graduates beyond university and trophy cricket, is occasionally booed by the crowd as his uncle happens to be a selector; and then bursts into the international cricket scene with his test debut at Port of Spain at the age of twenty-one.
The year is 1971, it is Gavaskars year, and sunny days have finally begun for Indian cricket. By the end of the 1975-76 season Gavaskar has played 147 first class matches, amassed 11574 runs and thirty-eight hundreds. He has played twenty-four matches in eight Tests, with 2123 runs and eight hundreds. And there is still nearly a decade left before the glory-days of the Kotla and Chidambaram stadiums.
A fluently written book with Gavaskars usual self-effacing modesty imparting a rare grace to its pages, Sunny Days is a must-read for all cricket fans.
