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    Blessing from a little boy: Mike Gatting's best India memory

    Synopsis

    The former England captain shares how he has a special relationship with the country.

    Mike GattingAgencies
    Mike Gatting has been very experimental with Indian menu.
    Last month, former English cricketer Mike Gatting was in Mumbai for a book launch. The Royal Bombay Yacht Club was the venue where the batsman shared his memories of India.

    "My best moment in India is just around the corner. I am not very religious, but I was coming out of the Taj Mahal hotel playing the one day, Test match in 1984-5. I was about to get on the bus. A little boy said to me, 'You are going to get a 100 today.' I did not make anything of it. I found it strange, I looked around my teammates and there was nobody there. It was one of those moments, you don't know, why, where. We did not win that Test match sadly but that was an interesting moment as I did go on to make a 100," he said.

    ​Mike Gatting at the launch of book 'Fortune Turners', authored by Aditya Bhushan and Sachin Bajaj.PTI
    Mike Gatting at the launch of book 'Fortune Turners', authored by Aditya Bhushan and Sachin Bajaj.

    That day was when his teammate, Graeme Fowler and he got a double hundred in the same innings of a Test match. "Batting was a huge challenge, I just remember those days it was just interesting," he said with a shrug.

    Food and India have an interesting tale for Gatting. "I have had so many tours to India, I have tried it all. All Indian food is never bad. On my first trip, they said, 'Just stick to the chicken tikka or the butter chicken and you won't go wrong'. That is what I had for the first tour or so. I decided to expand the menu when I came here the second and third time. I am very fortunate, I don't have a favourite," he said with a laugh.


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