"He never expects anything from anybody, just wanted to give back to cricket": Sunil Gavaskar on Solly Adam

Solly Adam (left) and Sunil Gavaskar at CCI, Churchgate, on Sunday. Pic/Shadab Khan

Batting icon Sunil Gavaskar hailed England-based Solly Adam's unselfish contribution to cricket as he made around 400 cricketers from India and Pakistan feel like home during their playing days in the UK.

Gavaskar was speaking as a chief guest at the launch of Adam's book, Beyond Boundaries at the Cricket Club of India on Sunday. "If you go to somebody's house, you just feel at home. It doesn't happen with everybody, but Solly has always been… I stayed at his place so many times, it's unbelievable," Gavaskar said.

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"What he [Adam] has done for cricketers from India and Pakistan needed to be told. I have always said that the game of cricket is great to have unselfish cricket lovers like Solly. He never expects anything from anybody, he just wanted to give back to the game of cricket," added Gavaskar, who wrote the foreword for the book.

Adam revealed that legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar was not keen to play for Yorkshire in 1992, but Gavaskar convinced him. Tendulkar then became the first overseas cricketer to play for Yorkshire. Gavaskar played for Somerset County Cricket Club in 1980.

Adam, who met Gavaskar for the first time during the India versus England Test at Old Trafford, Manchester, in 1971, wrote about his bond with the former India captain in his book. "I had not even imagined that this cricket legend Sunil, who is one of the finest human beings with a great intellect and a noble heart, would one day become my friend, and that our friendship would last forever," Adam wrote.