Legendary Indian cricketer Gundappa Viswanath, who turned 70 recently, was a connoisseur’s delight. He raised the standard of his batting when others failed. He added colour to the Indian batting with his repertoire of shots around the wicket (‘Sport’ page, “Viswanath – the hero and role model – is now 70”, February 13).
The Karnataka star gets instant recall for his trademark square cut that would often whizz past the gully and point regions, leaving the fielders in awe and admiration. Among Vishy’s many great knocks, his 97 not out against the West Indies at Chepauk in 1975 can be counted as evidence of his power in a crisis situation. It was a masterclass knock scored against the fury of Andy Roberts. The innings was best described by Sunil Gavaskar in his book, Idols : “His 97 not out is the finest Test match innings I was privileged to see.”
R. Sivakumar,
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Chennai
G.R. Viswanath was the Keats of cricket; so poetic his batting was. He was the ‘trademark-holder’ of the square cut and late cut. His 97 not out at Chepauk in the 1975 Test against the West Indies stood apart. The original ‘Little Master’ cannot be cloned.
K. Pradeep,
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Chennai