Sunil Gavaskar, writing in his column for Mid-Day, recalled the time he was replaced as India’s captain immediately after leading the team to a series win over West Indies in 1978/79.
India had managed to win a six-Test series against West Indies 1-0 on home soil, after which they were to visit England for the ODI World Cup and a four-Test series. However, Gavaskar, who top-scored with 732 runs and led the side to a series victory over the then-world champions, was replaced by S Venkataraghavan as the captain.
“One can totally understand the captain being replaced as used to happen then when India lost a series, especially overseas, but to replace a winning skipper was perhaps a first in Indian cricket.”
Gavaskar was reinstated as the captain after the England Test series, where he finished as the top-scorer with 542 runs. India, however, went down 1-0 in the series.
