It was an overwhelming experience, watching my colleagues and friends R Mohan, Vijay Lokapally, Vincent Sunder and Hemant Kenkre portray the image and aura of one of India’s finest batsmen Gundappa Viswanath on a video-conferencing meeting.
The readiness with which former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin and former India batsman and coach Aunshuman Gaekwad spoke about Vishy is a testimony to the man’s ability to touch lives across generations. His simplicity and humility remains endearing to this day.
That GRV can evoke such passion nearly four decades after he last played for India speaks volumes about his magic.
A great human being and a great friend of mine .he was with me in state bank of india for several years.played together for SBI . from R.chandrasekarsn , former first class player and former Treasurer Tnca
Enjoyed it thoroughly Rajaram. A wonderful trip down memory lane and what a player GRV was. Sri
One never gets blasé or tired of listening to GRV ,the person ,his wry sense of humour or his stirring deeds most importantly ,particularly versus searing pace on some hostile pitches .He played many a “Boy in the Burning deck” kinda innings,shone when all else around him withered and faded ,unable to cope and here he was displaying a brand of batsmanship of rare pedigree and school where in very few belonged .
The irony of fate was that he was never accorded a comeback,and for a player who had amassed 6000 plus runs in 91 tests ,that was as cruel as it gets .
Master of the Flick shots thru mid wicket and fierce cuts either side of a bewildered point ,Vishy with his sublimely ethereal strokeplay would attract ,invite the gasps in utter awe ,astonishment from the adoring crowds in Chennai during his test match days (75,76,78,82 particularly) and even during his Ranji , Deodhar trophy,and even Buchibabu days!
Believe me it was a sight in itself to behold and soak the admiration on the faces of so many hundreds of spectators faces when he creamed a boundary with his feathery willow as it were . It felt like I suppose the viewing spectators equivalent of a nirvana.Unbearable Bliss .The crowds almost felt shortchanged when he failed and almost had to pick themselves to follow the game after his departure.A collective gasp of pained anguish would rent the air once he got out and the spectators had to resort to philosophy etc to move on.Such was the impact of his skullsets and the aura that enveloped around him , that Truth be told Madras audiences thankfully had their fill!
Many an Indian cricket’ followers heart was torn when his defences and form was breached by Imran &co, on that ill fated tour of Pakistan in late 82 ,his swansong .
At Faisalabad (on his previous tour when ties were resumed he had gorged on to 145 on debut at this venue!) Lots and lots of eager anticipated watchers waited with bated breath to see him comeback .But alas he got to 37 , promised more, only to succumb again ,to the portly and disarming Ehtesham ud din .That beggared belief and it was the last nail.Misfortunes never come singly and this event particularly exacerbated my view .
Saddened me no end as a 15 yr old back then:(
GRV is probably the quintessential
“rough track bully” if ever there is one in Cricketing parlance !
💐🌹❤️
A prolific batsman, a kind and compassionate human being, a friend of friends , a legend
t.srinivasaco@gmail.com great to hear the talk on Great G.R.Vishvanath, thank you for sharing .🙏🙏🙏🙏♥️
I am very much overwhelmed when I was able to see lot of Cricket experts journalists and fans like me discussing about one of the greatest cricketer (He played cricket like an artist in non violent fashion and was able to score more runs) and my l time favourite. Thank you all. I was fortunate to see the above video only yesterday. If any discuss like this happen about GRV in future please inform me sir.