“He said, ‘you cannot do this’” - Sunil Gavaskar reveals Pakistan legend’s massive role in his historic milestone

Former Indian cricketer and legend Sunil Gavaskar revealed how former Pakistan World Cup winning captain Imran Khan helped him achieve a historic milestone in his career. Talking on the 'Dressing Room' show, he recalled an instance where he wanted to quit Test cricket but was stopped by Imran Khan.

Sunil Gavaskar recalled how he spoke to Imran about wanting to quit during a tour to England in 1986.

“I got the opportunity to do so (score 10,000 Test runs) only because of one Imran Khan," he said. "Now, a year before in England, after the first Test was won, Imran and I went with a friend for lunch in London bang opposite the Harolds in London, there is an Italian restaurant. We went for a lunch there. At this point, I told him, this is going to be my last tour (India tour of England 1986). I am going to quit after this."

Gavaskar then added how Imran Khan told him that Pakistan were going to tour India and asked him not to quit. Had the former Indian legend not taken Imran's advice, he would have ended with around 9200 to 9300 runs.

“He said ‘No, no you cannot do this.’ I said, 'What do you mean no, it is my choice.’ He said ‘Pakistan is coming to India, and I want to beat India with you playing'. I said if that announcement is there, I will carry on. But if it doesn’t come, I will finish after the next Test.

"Sure enough, the announcement came through and I carried on. If I retired at that time, I would have had finished with 9200-9300 runs. Because of that announcement, there were two other series in India, so I got close to 10,000. If Imran had not told me to carry on…,” he added.

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Sunil Gavaskar became the first batter to score 10,000 Test runs

Changing his decision after his conversation with Imran Khan, Sunil Gavaskar went on to create history. During the fourth Test of the home series against Pakistan in Ahmedabad in March 1987, he became the first player in the history to score 10,000 Test runs.

It was his last Test series as Sunil Gavaskar pulled the curtains down on his illustrious Test career. He scored 21 and 96 in both innings, respectively, against Pakistan in his final Test in Bengaluru.

Gavaskar ended his Test career with 10122 runs from 125 matches at an average of 51.12 to go with 34 hundreds to his name. He is considered among the greatest batters in the history of the game.