Gavaskar lauds ‘astute cricketer’ Borde

Gavaskar lauds ‘astute cricketer’ Borde

PUNE: For five decades, legendary cricketer Chandu Borde has basked in every role he has played: world-class batsman, superb fielder, captain, selector and the team-manager. Little Master Sunil Gavaskar on Friday, paid tribute to Borde for serving the game of cricket and inspiring hundreds of budding cricketers to take up cricket-including Gavaskar.

The legendary opening batsman was in attendance of a book release on Borde, named ‘Panther’s Paces’ at the Poona Club in the city on Friday. Also present were Colonel Lalit Rai, Mohan Sinha-the writer of the book, Poona club president Rahul Dhole Patil and Anil Kulkarni from Anubandh Publishers.

“As a keen 10-year old I had the privilege to see Chandu Borde sir bat at the Brabourne Stadium where he countered the likes of Garry Sobers, Wes Hall and Roy Gilchrist. It was an unbelievable learning curve for me to follow that,” Gavaskar recalled. 

Not many thought that the soft-spoken gentleman would actually turn into a doyen of the game.

“His audacious batting could light up a stadium but he could also play to the needs of the team and shut down one end. Something that the present-day cricketers could learn,” Gavaskar further added.  

Borde went on to play 55 test matches for India and played a crucial role in many famous Indian victories. He started as a batsman and then with his leg break became one of India’s leading all-rounders. His record of scoring 1,604 first-class runs in 1964-65 season remained an Indian record for more than 50 years before it was broken by Cheteshwar Pujara in 2016-17. 

Colonel Lalit Rai, noted that the book helped him explore the magnanimous charactaristics about Borde’s personality. He stated that the way cricketers savoured every moment  off the field was something to learn from.

The book, which is penned by Mohan Sinha has a foreword by legendary West Indies cricketer Sir Garfield Sobers. Borde thanked his family for the support during his playing days, saying that without that it would be impossible for him to forge a career in cricket.

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