Sunil Gavaskar and Sourav Ganguly are two of the greatest cricketers from India to ever play the game. They even have the same initials and have each amassed 10,000 runs in ODIs and Tests, respectively. A wonderful statistic that will blow your mind is that both Ganguly and Gavaskar made a double century in their 99th Test, as if that weren’t enough. Gavaskar recorded his best Test score of 236 against the West Indies in 1983, and 24 years later, in Bengaluru, against Pakistan, Ganguly recorded his first and only Test double century with a total of 239.
Gavaskar and Ganguly are both football fanatics, incidentally. Ganguly was one of Atletico de Kolkata’s original members in 2014, and he was also essential to the merger with Mohun Bagan. Gavaskar, on the other hand, admitted that he has long been an avid supporter of the English Premier League team Arsenal. Gavaskar has always had a soft spot for two of Arsenal FC’s greatest players in particular, however he is not so much a fan as an admirer.
“I’ve been an Arsenal follower – I won’t say a fan so much – been a follower for a long time. I used to tease my son who is a Manchester United fan that I am an Arsenal fan and he would ask ‘Tell me 4 names from the Arsenal team’. I would say Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp. Even Arsene Wenger is an uncanny lookalike of my hero ML Jaisimha, so that’s an additional factor. Henry was someone who I really admired watching and he also has signed a shirt for me,” Gavaskar said on The Extra Innings Show on the Sony Sports Network ahead of the start of the 2nd India vs Bangladesh Test.
Bergkamp, who played for the team in 423 games and scored 120 goals, will likely go down in history as the greatest Gunner legend ever. With 228 goals throughout all competitions between 1999 and 2007, Henry is a close second. Henry, who is regarded as one of the best strikers of all time, is Arsenal’s all-time leading goal scorer. He has won two FA Cups and as many EPL titles with the Gunners, and he was a member of the team in 2003–04, when they finished the Premier League season unbeaten.
Then, unexpectedly, Gavaskar focused on Ganguly, another football enthusiast, revealing that the former BCCI president had been in possession of the shirt autographed by the former Arsenal captain and had promised to return it during the upcoming series between India and Sri Lanka, which will begin next month.
“Sourav Ganguly… hello? Where is that shirt? I am coming to Kolkata for the game on the 12th and Sourav, you better this time – I don’t want any excuses. You are no longer the BCCI president. You have a little more time on your hands. Find that shirt which Henry had signed for me and please give it to me when I come there on the 12th,” added Gavaskar.
