“Things umpires have to do these days”: When Sunil Gavaskar got his hair cut by the umpire in the middle of a Test match vs England

Cricket is perhaps the only sport where amusing, bizarre incidents keep taking place every now and then involving the players, umpires, or even the spectators in the stands.

While the multi-camera set-ups and the advancement of social media these days makes sure such incidents reach as many people as possible even within a shorter span of time, back during the time in the previous century, the fans of the sport and its players did not have the luxury to have access to some of these hilarious and even precious moments in their electronic devices.

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One such bizarre moment involved the legendary Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar in the year 1974, when the ‘Little Master’ was just three years into his international Test career.

This one of a kind event involving him was never heard of in the past, and perhaps is not likely to be heard of in the future as well on the field of Cricket.

Sunil Gavaskar got his hair cut by the umpire

Apart from being renowned for his unparalleled batting skills during the 70s, Gavaskar was also popular for his curly hair locks, which always swayed beautifully in the direction of the breeze while he batted with his hat on.

However, one day in the year 1974, his curly locks decided to make him uncomfortable thereby prompting him to take an impulsive, yet bizarre decision.

While batting against England at the Old Trafford, with the wind swaying his hair locks before his eyes, an impatient Gavaskar reached his ‘I’ve had it enough’ moment and decided to have a word with the on-field umpire Dickie Bird.

The ‘Little Master’ requested Bird to cut a chunk of his hair from the front so that he doesn’t get distracted by them while sighting the deliveries.

The umpire, who did carry the pair of scissors with himself in order to get rid of the thread that sometimes lurk out of the ball, had no problem whatsoever in adhering to Gavaskar’s innocuous request.

While doing the needful, Bird even hilariously remarked to Gavaskar, “The things umpires have to do these days”.

Resultantly, while India lost the Test match later on, Gavaskar did score a century (101 runs) that day.