12 Interesting facts about Rohan Gavaskar

The son of former Indian great Sunil Gavaskar, Rohan Gavaskar never lived the celebrated life that his father did. Being a left-handed batsman and an orthodox left-arm spinner, Gavaskar played for the Indian side in 2003/04. Although he was never able to make his opportunities to count, his performances at the domestic level have caught the eye of one and all. That said, here are some interesting facts about Rohan Gavaskar.

1. Birth & early life:

Rohan Gavaskar was born in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh on the 20^th of February 1976. He studied at St. Xaviers Collegiate School, Kolkata, Bombay Scottish School, and then Ramniranjan Anandilal Podar College of Commerce and Economics. Gavaskar is married to his childhood sweetheart, Swati Mankar.

2. A cricketing family:

Rohan Gavaskar’s family boasts of some of India’s greatest cricketers. Apart from being the son of Sunil Gavaskar, he is the nephew of former India wicketkeeper batsman Gundappa Vishwanath. Former Indian batsman MK Mantri is Rohan’s great uncle.

3. The origins of the name:

Rohan’s father, the great Sunil Gavaskar named him after the three players he adored the most. These players were West Indian batsman Rohan Kanhai, ML Jaishimha, and Gundappa Vishwanath. Although his officially registered name is Rohan Sunil Gavaskar, his father wanted to name him Rohan Jaivishwa.

4. ODI debut:

Rohan made his ODI debut against Australia at Brisbane in India’s tour of Australia in 2003/04. The match proved to be an important win for India as they picked up a 19 run win. Gavaskar batted for barely a couple of minutes, scoring just 2 runs. He however, bowled 9 overs conceding 56 runs and picking up one wicket. The wicket of Andrew Symonds was Gavaskar’s only international wicket.

5. Half century at Adelaide:

In the eighth match of the VB series, Rohan Gavaskar made his maiden half-century in international cricket. He made a masterful 54 off 62 balls that helped India clinch the match by 3 runs.

6. Never played for India at home:

Rohan Gavaskar has played just 11 ODIs for India. Interestingly, none of these ODIs have been played on Indian soil. He has toured Australia, England and the Netherlands with the national side.

7. The adoptive Ranji Trophy side:

Realizing that he wouldn’t get many chances in the Mumbai side, Gavaskar made the switch from Mumbai to Bengal. He was marginally successful as he played 117 First class matches for them over a span of 10 years.

8. Captain of Bengal cricket team:

Rohan Gavaskar was named as the captain of the Bengal side for the 2001-02 Ranji Trophy season. The appointment backfired miserably as Bengal had two poor seasons under his leadership.

9. ICL involvement:

In 2007, Gavaskar signed to play for the Kolkata Tigers in the Indian Cricket League which was declared as unauthorized by the BCCI. He remained in the ICL only for the inaugural season.

10. Coming back into the BCCI fold:

Following a stint with the ICL, Gavaskar made a comeback to the mainstream cricket circuit. He was subsequently selected for the Bengal Ranji Trophy team and was picked by the Kolkata Knight Riders in the inaugural IPL season.

11. Commentary career:

Rohan Gavaskar announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in 2012. He followed in his father’s footsteps as he made his way into the commentary team for both the IPL and Star.

12. First-class stats:

Gavaskar’s first-class career spanned over 10 years. In 117 matches for Bengal, Gavaskar amassed 6938 runs at an average of 44. He also has 18 tons and 34 fifties to his name.