Thread by @RandomCricketP1

THREAD

When two Indian legends sparred in England

Sports is tough. Sports is competitive. And sometimes, you're not only competing with the opposition. While they did somewhat make up in the ensuing years, and never lost mutual respect for each other as cricketers,

the relationship between Sunil Gavaskar and Bishan Singh Bedi remained, for the longest time, what can be best described as 'frosty'. There are theories abound for what led to two of India's greatest cricketers not seeing eye to eye for decades, especially from a point in the

relationship where Bedi had named his son after the Mumbai batter - Gavas Inder. And this strange equation often went from not seeing eye to eye to having a go at each other in public.

One such ugly episode played out in 1990 when Team India was touring England. Gavaskar had

retired three years ago and was in England for his first stint as broadcaster. Bedi having last played int'l cricket in 1979 had now ascended to the role of the team's manager.

In the very first match of the series, Team India's young captain Mohd. Azharuddin made a massive

error of judgment when he put England in and saw them amass 653 with Gooch scoring 333. Despite some thrilling batting, first from Azharuddin and then from Kapil Dev, India never looked like they were in the contest. A pasting of 247 runs followed. However, to add insult to

injury, Bedi publicly chastised his own captain, saying he shouldn't have fielded first after winning the toss. Remember, this was coming only a few months after he had suggested after a poor performance from India that the whole team should throw itself in the Pacific.

The statement left a bitter taste in the mouth, especially when it was felt that the manager should have been kinder to his young team and probably kept the harsh feedback to the dressing room. Gavaskar pounced on the opportunity and attacked him in a Daily Telegraph article

saying, "If Bedi has any sense of decency, he should resign."

This was Round One.

The second round began when reports emerged that Sunil Gavaskar had rejected MCC membership. While Gavaskar had done so eight months ago, the newspapers decided to bring it up during the tour.

Gavaskar had his own reasons to reject it though. It's believed that during the MCC bicentennial in 1987 in which he scored 188, the MCC stewards had refused him entry to Lord's and that remained with Gavaskar for long. So, when the MCC decided to offer honorary membership to

Test cricket's highest run-scorer, he rejected it.

Now, on this occasion, it was Bedi's turn to pounce. He sent an angry open letter to Gavaskar saying that he had insulted the cricketing world's highest institution and had let the Indian team down. If that wasn't enough, he

also said that he was ashamed to have been a teammate of his.

Few days later in his column, Gavaskar hit back saying, "My reaction (to the letter) was no reaction since the letter was not even worthy of an instant comment. All I can remind the cricket manager (Bedi) is that I

rejected the invitation to be a member of the MCC while he was rejected by the MCC."

One can only wonder what it must have been like for the touring Indian side to be caught in the line of fire, many of whom had played alongside Gavaskar or grew up idolising him and Bedi.

Despite this episode and many similar exchange of words, it must be noted that they never failed to name each other whenever they were asked about who was the best batter or best bowler. There was always appreciation for each other's contribution to the game as cricketers.

Photo by Patrick Eagar from the Bicentennial match at Lord's where Gavaskar played for Rest of the World against the MCC. The match was drawn after no play was possible on the last day when RoW had to chase down 340 with 9 wickets in hand.