Rohan Gavaskar starts his team India journey – can he match his father?
Ajit Parker, Special Correspondent
August 05, 2004

Rohan Gavaskar – Saurav’s favorite finally got included in Team India. Can he match his father Sunny? He might experts says! He may turn out the world’s one of the finest all rounder!

Cricket will never again be the same for Rohan Gavaskar, who once wanted to become a fast bowler like his childhood idol --Australian fast bowler Jeff Thomson. 

A day after he proved that he has the ability to shoulder his illustrious father's legacy, the 27-year-old all-rounder would have to keep shining as he did in one Sunday at Gabba, Brisbane. 

Rohan, who unlike his father Sunil Gavaskar, is a left-handed batsman and left-arm spinner, was picked by Sourav Ganguly for the VB Triangular Series match, which India won by 19 runs, following a spate of injuries to his players.

As a child, Rohan wanted to become a fast bowler like his hero Thomson, the Australian tearaway of 1970s and 1980s, whom his father played with success.

But the genes eventually took over and Rohan, while soaking in the cricket environment as he traveled with his parents for Test matches, gradually became a cricket addict.

And he decided to take up the game as a career and to realize his dream he moved to Bengal, where he has been accepted well and captains the state side.

Now that he has finally broken into the international fold, comparisons with his father, who was at Brisbane as a television commentator, are likely to increase. 

Experts would now minutely scrutinize Rohan's game and try to draw a parallel with Sunil, despite their stark dissimilarities. 

Both Sunil and Rohan do not tire pointing out that the junior is different in many ways -- a left-handed, a stroke maker, left-arm spinner, more stocky, oval faced, big eyes and, according to Gavaskar senior, more "handsome" than him. 

Rohan would consider himself lucky in several respects for making the one-day debut. 

The only child of Sunil, Rohan has scored 4,913 runs at 46.34 and captured 30 wickets in 81 first-class matches.

It is possible that Sunil would have discouraged Rohan from taking to the game, though this can perhaps be never authenticated. 

But Sunil would have been somewhat relieved when he realized that his son, born on February 10, 1976, in his mother's hometown of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, was a left-hander. 

And when he the time came to make his first-class debut in the national championship for the Ranji Trophy, he, apparently on Sunil's advice, moved to Bengal and made Kolkata his base. 

Many believed that Rohan would be one of the many players who opt for the Bengal to get into the weak state side easily. 

But as it turned out, Rohan, who attended Bombay Scottish School and R.A. Poddar College, stayed put, playing in the local league before breaking into the state team in 1996-97 for his first-class debut.

Good luck Rohan! World is watching you! You can do it!