आयडॉल्स: Idols

by Sunil Gavaskar, Bal J. Pandit (Translator)

भारतात जे अनेक चांगले क्रिकेटपटू तयार झाले त्यातला सुनील गावसकर हा एक श्रेष्ठ. 'सनी डेज्' हे त्याचं क्रिकेटवर लिहिलेलं अतिशय सुंदर व वाचनीय पुस्तक. त्या पुस्तकाचा खप फार प्रचंड झाला. फारच थोडे खेळाडू असे आहेत की, जे लिहू शकतात. गावसकर हा त्यापैकीच एक. तो स्वतः लिहितो आणि त्याचं लिखाण मोठं बहारदार असतं. 'आयडॉल्स' या पुस्तकात सुनील गावसकरनं क्रिकेट विश्वातल्या एकतीस उत्कृष्ट समकालीन खेळाडूंचं आपल्या चित्रमयी भाषेत शब्दचित्र रेखाटलंय. त्यांच्या कलेचं कौतुक केलंय. हे सगळे एकतीस खेळाडू तुमचे आमचे, सर्वांचे आवडते 'हिरोज्' आहेत. गावसकरही त्यांना मानतो. त्यांचं तंत्र, शैली आणि पद्धत गावसकरच्या मनात भरली आहे. त्यांच्या खेळातली कलाही गावसकरला भुरळ पाडते.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction

356 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Sunil Manohar "Sunny" Gavaskar is a former cricketer who played during the 1970s and 1980s for Bombay and India. Widely regarded as one of the greatest opening batsmen in cricket history, Gavaskar set world records during his career for the most Test runs and most Test centuries scored by any batsman. He held the record of 34 Test centuries for almost two decades before it was broken by Sachin Tendulkar in December 2005.
Gavaskar was widely admired for his technique against fast bowling, with a particularly high average of 65.45 against the West Indies, who possessed a four-pronged fast bowling attack regarded as the most vicious in Test history.

Reviews

[Santhosh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slightly disappointing. Rather than focusing on the personality which only someone inside the circle could, Sunny summarises the idols' cricket careers. So instead of insightful anecdotes and background about what drives them to be the champions they are and why they are Sunny's 'idols', this reads more like a consolidated cricinfo profile page.

[Girish Querido II · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a 90s kid like me who grew up hearing yesteryear cricketing tales from elders - this book was a revelation. Writing by Sunny paji is competent, though writing structure could have been better. A good read though. 5 stars for the tale, not for the telling.

[Prabhat sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Idols : Sunil Gavaskar is about 31 cricketers of the Cricketing Nations who have impressed Gavaskar as Idols. The Book is interesting because it shows the negative aspects of various teams- breaking the concentration of players by disturbing them so that they win by hook or crook. Australia- sledging, Pakistan- Abusing, West Indies- bowling pace which can hit the body,(body line tactics) Australia-not friendly players even after the match is over, England- Press always covering up the English team though they may commit mistakes, Australian Third Umpire giving the benefit of doubt to home team only. A game is played to enjoy and plan so that a team and cover all odds and win. Second, all visiting teams plays so many matches that they are tired and energy worn out for the tests. Those players who have played English Country Cricket are more comfortable about the changes in weather so that they can adopt their body accordingly. Third, weather is bad and visiting teams do not get time for net practice one day before the match. The book has sold many editions because it opens up negative inside aspects of teams during the course of the match. He has written highly about all Indian players. It is a good read for all sports lovers.

[Nanda Wanninayaka]

Sunil Gavaskar wrote ‘Idols’ on his most favourite cricketers. The book has profiled 30 odd cricketers of his time. The book profiles cricketers such as Rohan Kanhai (Gavaskar named his son as Rohan as a tribute to Kanhai), Sobers, Hadlee, Marsh, Kapil Dev, “Jimmy” Amarnath, “Zed” Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Imran Khan, Viv Richards, Bishen Singh Bedi, Prasanna, B. S. Chandra Sekhar, Venkataraghavan, etc. He also profiles some of the unlucky cricketers like Rajinder Goel and P. Shivalkar who could not make it to the national team.

Gavaskar includes interesting details about the profiled cricketers’ on and off the field lives too. Being in the game for such a long time, he is definitely bound to know a lot about the cricketers of his era. His language is also beautiful. I don’t think it is easy to find this book in bookstores anymore unless you find a copy or two in Amazon.

[Paritosh Vyas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had purchased this book in 1985 and I am reading it again at 2025. It is a 1983 edition.

Sunil Gavaskar is a legend in the cricket World.

He has got a sharp cricketing brain and has been a successful model, actor, sports writer and a commentator and hence a complete all rounder.

in this book he speaks about 31 people whom he considers idols. a lot of the description is technical.

However, the icing on the cake are the anecdotes about these cricketers.

Just imagine a cricketer greeted at the airport by Garry Sobers and a dignified old man and handing over his bag to the old man while going to the toilet and then coming back asking him for his name and the reply comes. my name is Don Bradman !

There is also an incident of a beer pub fight between Ian Chappel and Ian Botham .

of course I will not narrate the rest of the incidents.

The only downside is that. yes, not written much about 1983 World Cup winners.

But then even these incidents are the holy grail for cricket lovers.

[Aashish · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a candid and fascinating account of SMG's favorite cricketers. SMG brings out several small but important qualities in a number of cricketers, some known and some relatively unknown.

Having read most of his books and followed most of his career as a cricketer and later as a commentator, I found this to be his most forthcoming book. It is amazing how he spent 6 of his best years as a batsman (1977-1983) writing this one after Sunny Days. May be the success he had as a batsman in this time period reflects in the confident assessment of his idols.

[Selva · Rating 4 out of 5]

This it is the first non-fiction that I read and that I bought with my own money. If you love cricket and want to know about the stalwarts that belong to a different era, this is one good book for that.

[Charanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

not the most well written book, but tales about cricket and the greatest in the game is always worth a read...when you love the game.

[Kashyap · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read long long a go. At that time, my impression was: He writes as good as he bats. One of the 1st Indian players who could call white bluff.