Bedi slams Sunny!

[King Tendulkar]

NEW DELHI, June 17: Cricketing circles were in a tizzy on Sunday following former Indian skipper and spin great Bishan Singh Bedi's scathing attack on another former captain and batting maestro Sunil Gavaskar in the Outlook weekly news magazine. Bedi told the magazine that Gavaskar was a "destructive influence on Indian cricket", adding "he always liked power without accountability". The comments come in the wake of Gavaskar, a prominent member of the Indian cricket board's (BCCI) coach selection panel, lambasting leading candidate Dav Whatmore in his columns and instead suggesting the name of former England player John Emburey, who has had little success as a coach and was largely considered a dummy candidate. Consequently, India's choice Graham Ford rejected the offer and Emburey too said he was not interested. Bedi's outburst was being perceived as an unprecedented public attack from a prominent ex-cricketer on Gavaskar, who is widely respected for his stature and has long been a part, in some form or another, of the Indian cricket establishment. But Bedi said: "Cricket circles had immense and blind respect for him (as a cricketer) and he successfully used this to ensure that board officials remained in awe of him. He wants the glamour, the position and if there are any financial gains so much the better...but he does not want any accountability. He's always liked power without accountability." Asked about Gavaskar's contribution to Indian cricket, Bedi told the magazine: "I had a lot of time for his batting but never as a thought leader. You tell me what his contribution has been. He is destructive, there is nothing positive." Bedi added: "I remember the time I was called by the then-NCA (National Cricket Academy) director Brijesh Patel, along with Erapalli Prasanna and VV Kumar, to train spinners there. We did not hear at all from NCA chairman Gavaskar before, during or after the camp. I also recall his presiding over a captains and coaches meeting where he gave me the impression he was not even listening." Bedi has been known to make acerbic comments on cricketing matters. But this tirade is astounding even by his own standards and we might just see a full-blown spat between the two legends of Indian cricket. Later, Bedi was even heard repeating his words in a panel discussion on a Hindi news channel.

[THX_1138]

as much as i would like to, bedi does have a point. the guy is certainly verbose but he is not an exaggerator. sunny did have a massive ego and he felt that being the most glamorous person in the side/captain he had complete carte blanche. i recall the odi where he scored 36 in 60 overs claiming that the target was beyond the realm of achievable and thus wanted to use the opportunity to get some batting practice or the time he forced a walkout when giving out lbw in australia (a dismissal later revealed to be quite correct). nonetheless, sunny is not a complete doof, he does contribute significantly to indian cricket, he has always been supportive of certain batsmen when they are facing gloomy days. for instance when tendulkar was captain and was having a terrible ordeal, sunny advised him periodically and it did help. similarly he is always willing to offere advise to anyone who approaches him. and while we are at it, bedi is often too condescending. he is critical of the commercialization of contemporary cricket without realizing that its this very commercialization for which the sport is even played. maybe sunny needs to curtail his ego and bedi needs to cut out the banter.

[CC1981]

The only good contribution of Sunny is his whole-hearted backing of Ganguly as captain when Gangoo became captain. I wouldn't have been surprised with Gavaskar slating Gangoo,since Gangoo inherited the captaincy from Gavaskar's favourite boy- Sachin. But that was one aspect where Gavaskar put aside his legendary favouritism and saw the spade for what it was. When he used to commentate a lot in the 90s, i couldnt stand his 'must mention Rohan atleast once every match' syndrome.

[suma25]

When he used to commentate a lot in the 90s, i couldnt stand his 'must mention Rohan atleast once every match' syndrome.

when did he do that ??????except when rohan was playing for india apart from that i have never heard him mention anytime abt his son while commetating..... he does have a big ego though thats true.......

[CC1981]

when did he do that ??????except when rohan was playing for india apart from that i have never heard him mention anytime abt his son while commetating..... he does have a big ego though thats true.......

Gavaskar had this standard modus ope***** of commenting about how much new batting 'talunt' is there in India evrytime some debutant would hit a lovely cover drive...and then he'd say how this batsman is talunted..then come up with 4-5 names of other 'up-n-comming talunts' and always chuck in Rohan's name in the middle...

[Donny]

"I can't forget the time he once told a team meeting - 'The day I stop thinking of money, I will stagnate'.". Bishan Bedi on Sunil Gavaskar, his former Indian team-mate

[Donny]

Brings to mind a more humourous little story about the two Indian greats. During one of the first 3 Tests, Australia v. India 1977, the two captains were being interviewed in the tea break. Gavaskar was on the way to one of his 3 centuries. Bishen Bedi was asked what he thought of the day's play, so far. "Oooo" enthused Bedi, "Sunny's batting is giving me orgasms!" Bobby Simpson and the ABC commentator just cracked up although they couldn't really be seen to be openly laughing. Bear in mind, this was 30 years ago and that word had probably never even been uttered on TV - certainly not on the fairly conservative ABC.

[Gambit]

Bedi was never one to engage in subtlety.

[Predator_05]

Bedi is a fool, but this is the 2nd time he has been right about something. The first time being his accurate labelling of Muralitharan as a javelin thrower.