Abhishek Bachchan delivered a string of 17 flops before his first hit and then gradually rose up the ladder to be amongst the reigning stars of Bollywood. But cricket isn’t Bollywood. It’s much much more unforgiving. Even the great Sunil Gavaskar’s son couldn’t secure a place in the Indian Test side and till date played in only 11 ODIs.

Back in the mid 1980s we all believed that Gavaskar’s son will follow in his father’s footsteps to the great cricketing stadiums of the world, quite like the many other father and sons who brought glory to India on the cricketing field. But that was not to be. Even brushing his teeth with Forhan’s couldn’t make Rohan the superfighter that his father was (I feel that most father-son comparisons are a bit unjust).

A 10-year old Rohan Gavaskar appeared in this advertisement for Forhan’s toothpaste along with his father in 1986 (this  advertisement is from the February 1987 issue of the Reader’s Digest)

Sunil and Rohan Gavaskar in 1986 ad for Forhan's toothpaste

More from from Cutting the Chai archives:

A young Rahul Dravid with Sunil Gavaskar

A young Rahul Dravid with Sunil Gavaskar

More Rahul Dravid childhood photos here

Some photos from Sunil Gavaskar’s 1976 autobiography Sunny Days.

Gavaskar 'the baby' cricketer, in leg-guards stiched by his mother and sweater knitted by his grandmother.
Gavaskar 'the baby' cricketer, in leg-guards stiched by his mother and sweater knitted by his grandmother.
A picture from Sunil and Marshaniel Gavaskar's wedding album
A picture from Sunil and Marshaniel Gavaskar's wedding album

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