How Sunil Gavaskar discovered sister Kavita’s love story with Vishwanath

Most cricket fans know that Indian batting great Sunil Gavaskar and legendary batter Gundappa Viswanath are brothers-in-law. But fewer may know how Gavaskar first discovered that his sister Kavita and his close teammate Vishy were in love.

The revelation came at an unexpected moment, right in the middle of a disciplinary hearing involving Gavaskar and the BCCI.

Gavaskar had travelled to Bangalore after being summoned by the Board of Control for Cricket in India over a critical article in which he had described the selectors as “court jesters”.

“I was hauled up by the BCCI for writing an article where I called the selectors ‘court jesters’. So, they called me for a disciplinary hearing at a hotel in Bangalore,” Gavaskar recalled at an event.

Lunch time

The hearing had made little progress by lunchtime. When Gavaskar returned to his room during the break, he found B Raghunath, Viswanath’s brother, waiting for him.

“He asked me if I had spoken to my father (Manohar). Taken aback, I asked him: ‘Why should I speak to my father?’ ‘You need to speak to your father about Kavita and Vishy,’ he replied,” Gavaskar said.

The news caught him completely off guard.

“So, it came bang in the middle of a disciplinary hearing, where my mind was completely elsewhere! That’s when I came to know. All of us in the family are delighted that everything went on smoothly. We’re very proud of Vishy,” he added.

Looking back, Gavaskar admitted that Viswanath had actually dropped a hint about his relationship with Kavita. “It came as a surprise, to be honest. He had been dropping a hint, but maybe I wasn’t able to take it. On one of the tours, he was singing a Bollywood song: ‘Main kahin kavi na ban jaoon tere pyaar mein, ae Kavita!’” Gavaskar recalled.