I first met Gavaskar during the All England Championships in the early eighties, when he had come to watch his close friend Prakash Padukone in action and also cover the event for a magazine.
All the players in the Indian badminton team were amazed at how humble and friendly he was. Instead of sitting in the Royal Box, he would watch the matches by sitting with the Indian players and his enthusiasm for badminton was evident by the searching questions he asked and the tactical understanding he had for the game. While watching the men's doubles match, he was so fascinated with the speed and power of the rallies that he had commented that it's like two West Indies fast bowlers bowling at each other!
