PUNE: Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has said the current Indian team under Virat Kohli is fulfilling his dreams.

“What Kohli and his boys have done is amazing. Such a run of Test wins is amazing. They are fulfilling my dreams,” said the Little Master.

At a programme to mark the 40th anniversary of his book `Sunny Days’, Gavaskar was speaking to former India batsman V.V.S. Laxman at the Sports Literary Festival Xolo Sportale.

Gavaskar, who opened the batting for India, said when Virender Sehwag arrived on the scene, he saw someone was hitting the ball the way he (Gavaskar) always wanted.

He considered former team-mate Kapil Dev as the greatest match-winner the country has produced till date.

“Kapil Dev was India’s greatest match-winner because he won India matches both with the bat and all. Kapil, by sheer example, led others by the way he played and the flair he brought into the game; he showed other Indian fast bowlers the way ahead,” he added.

“All the bowlers who came after him, whether it was Chetan Sharma or Javagal Srinath, it was only because Kapil showed the way. So thanks to him we have developed this pool of fast bowlers today.

“The 1983 World Cup win was the most amazing moment of my career. There was no hope from us. But we had beaten the West Indies in their home just before the tournament and somehow had the belief that we could do it again,” the 67-year-old said.

On criticism of T20 format, Gavaskar said, “In fact T20 has done some fantastic things for the sport and in many ways and raised the profile of the game.

“T20 offers action all the way through the match, but Test cricket still I believe is the ultimate form to judge a player. T20 has energised one-day cricket and one-day cricket in turn has energised Test cricket,” he said.

“The whole game of cricket has changed for better with whole new dimension added to cricket. Now more runs are being scored and there is action all the time,” said Gavaskar.

The former captain said he was not a great proponent of day-night pink ball Test cricket, but if the dew factor could be controlled, he would support it.

“It will be a fantastic way to play Test cricket if there is no dew factor,” he said.

“The way he bowled on Indian pitches was a learning. He showed the way and now we have a lot of fast bowlers with a great bench strength to replace them in the side.”

He advised the youngsters to shut off all the distractions when in the middle of the pitch if they wanted to excel in batting.

Speaking about his unfulfilled dreams, Gavaskar said, “I had a dream of getting (Rohan) Kanhai caught behind and then trap (Garry) Sobers leg before wicket. But it never happened.”

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2017