When Sunil Gavaskar sat muttering in Kanpur dressing room corner after run out: ‘I am a poor batsman … Please run singles for me’ | Cricket News

The ongoing Test between India and Bangladesh at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur has been in the spotlight for various non-cricketing reasons.
In the lead-up to the Test, a stand at the old venue was deemed dangerous for spectators the Uttar Pradesh Public Works Department (PWD), prompting the organisers to close the upper C stand for the match. There were also the sights of langurs (leaf monkeys) and their trainers in sight on Day 1, specifically roped in the UPCA to control the monkey menace at the venue.
The Kanpur stadium, one of India’s oldest Test venues, is widely known for its eventful line of off-field moments and cricketing achievements. The first turf pitch in India was laid in Kanpur before India beat Australia for the first time in Test cricket in 1959. 57 years later, India played their 500th Test in Kanpur, recording a 197-run victory over New Zealand.
When ‘poor batsman’ Gavaskar was run out in Kanpur
The iconic venue was also where batting legend Sunil Gavaskar once claimed to be a ‘poor batsman’. Playing the sixth and final Test of a long home series against England in 1982, captain Gavaskar was left livid when he was involved in a run-out with his brother-in-law Gundappa Viswanath.

Batting in reply to England’s 378/9 declared, Gavaskar and Viswanath laid out an 87-run partnership for the third wicket before a mix-up cost Gavaskar, shortly after he crossed his half-century and became the only batter to reach 500 runs in the series.
Gavaskar scored his final Test hundred at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur in 1986. (Express File)
“Gavaskar tapped the ball to mid-on and took off, but Vishy took a couple of steps and then ran back. Ian Botham rifled in a throw and he was caught short of the ground. He was furious from the moment Vishy turned him down,” former cricketer and first-class umpire Sunil Chaturvedi once told The Indian Express as he recollected the dismissal.
“I hid beside the wall (in the dressing room) and lened to him. He (Gavaskar) was talking to himself, ‘I am not a boundary hitter, I am a poor batsman who runs a lot of singles. Please run singles for me.’ It went on for a few minutes before he cleared his mind and joined the others outside,” Chaturvedi, the 13th member of the squad then, said.
The ‘poor’ Indian skipper returned for three more Tests to Kanpur in the following years. In his final outing at Green Park in 1986, Gavaskar cracked his 34th and final Test ton (176) against Sri Lanka, before finishing his career with 10,122 runs.