'I Asked Dickie Bird If He Had Scissors': Former India Legend Sunil Gavaskar Recalls An Interesting Anecdote Of His Mid-Innings Haircut

Talking about that match, the former legend ended up scoring 101 runs but could not help India win the match.

Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar.

Source : Getty

Cricketer-turned-commentator Sunil Gavaskar is one of the trustworthy voices of the cricketing circuit. He is currently giving his service in the ongoing fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Ahemadabad. While commenting in the ABC commentary box, he shared an interesting anecdote of his mid-innings haircut in Manchester.

Gavaskar took us to the 1974 Old Trafford Test between India and England where his long hair created a problem for him while batting. “A funny, funny incident in that century at Manchester as well. I didn’t wear a cap in those days and I had much longer hair than I have now. And so the gust of wind was blowing hair in my eyes and just as the bowler was about to deliver the ball, so I asked Dickie Bird if he had some scissors where he could snip it off.

"You are listening to the only man, who's had a haircut on a Test ground."

When the cricket slows down, the banter picks up in the ABC commentary box. Enjoy this delightful yarn from the great Sunil Gavaskar.

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— ABC SPORT (@abcsport) March 12, 2023

“And I’m thinking, of course, that because the umpires keep scissors to look after the seam of the ball when the seam comes off and trim the seam. And he started to snip it off. So it actually wasn’t doing such a great job and Keith Fletcher was walking from slip to slip and said because I had really thick wavy hair.

“He said,’ you can’t do it with that you’ll need shears to trim that.’

Talking about that match, the former legend ended up scoring 101 runs but could not help India win the match. He has played for India in 125 Tests and made 10,122 runs with an average of 51.12 and hit 34 Test tons. Earlier, Gavaskar landed in a controversy when he questioned Australia's stand-in skipper Steve Smith. Gavaskar told Matthew Hayden in the commentary box,  "I haven't seen much of Steve Smith. Is he a compulsive puller?”.