<p>The England opener with a reputation for straight talking said he and Gavaskar were similar in many respects but he had the better technique.<br /><br />"There is no question that Sunny was a fantastic batsman. People love to make comparisons and Sunil and I have been compared very often perhaps because we were similar in many ways -- we batted right-handed, opened the innings, had a great appetite for runs, hated to give our wickets away and possessed good technique," Boycott wrote in new book 'Sunil Gavaskar: Cricket's Little Master'.<br /><br />"As our records show, Sunil played more matches, scored more runs and centuries than me, but in terms of technique, I consider myself superior to Sunil even if by just half a percentage point," he added.<br /><br />Gavaskar has played 125 Tests and scored 10,122 runs while Boycott has 8114 runs from 108 matches.<br />Incidentally, Boycott's argument could not convince former umpire and his Yorkshire teammate Dicky Bird who had no doubt that Gavaskar was the better batsman.<br /><br />"What a great sight it was to watch Gavaskar bat. Pace bowlers could never really dominate him. That's why I rate him as the best opener of my era," Bird wrote in the book compiled by veteran cricket journalist Debasish Datta.<br />"And mind you, I have seen quite a few in my time. He would be in my World XI along with Barry Richards -- I have mentioned that in my latest book," Bird said.<br />"Needless to say that my Yorkshire hero Geoffrey Boycott did not like it after going through the name of my World XI. Boycott wanted to know why I had not picked him in the World XI. He also wanted to know whether I recognised him as a great player.<br />"I told him, of course he was also a great player but Sunil and Barry were marginally better than him. He did not take it sportingly," he said.<br />Bird explained why he rated Gavaskar so highly as a batsman.<br />"He had enormous powers of concentration, an excellent technique and used to time the ball well. He always seemed to have extra time to play a stroke. That's the hall mark of a great player," he said.</p>
<p>The England opener with a reputation for straight talking said he and Gavaskar were similar in many respects but he had the better technique.<br /><br />"There is no question that Sunny was a fantastic batsman. People love to make comparisons and Sunil and I have been compared very often perhaps because we were similar in many ways -- we batted right-handed, opened the innings, had a great appetite for runs, hated to give our wickets away and possessed good technique," Boycott wrote in new book 'Sunil Gavaskar: Cricket's Little Master'.<br /><br />"As our records show, Sunil played more matches, scored more runs and centuries than me, but in terms of technique, I consider myself superior to Sunil even if by just half a percentage point," he added.<br /><br />Gavaskar has played 125 Tests and scored 10,122 runs while Boycott has 8114 runs from 108 matches.<br />Incidentally, Boycott's argument could not convince former umpire and his Yorkshire teammate Dicky Bird who had no doubt that Gavaskar was the better batsman.<br /><br />"What a great sight it was to watch Gavaskar bat. Pace bowlers could never really dominate him. That's why I rate him as the best opener of my era," Bird wrote in the book compiled by veteran cricket journalist Debasish Datta.<br />"And mind you, I have seen quite a few in my time. He would be in my World XI along with Barry Richards -- I have mentioned that in my latest book," Bird said.<br />"Needless to say that my Yorkshire hero Geoffrey Boycott did not like it after going through the name of my World XI. Boycott wanted to know why I had not picked him in the World XI. He also wanted to know whether I recognised him as a great player.<br />"I told him, of course he was also a great player but Sunil and Barry were marginally better than him. He did not take it sportingly," he said.<br />Bird explained why he rated Gavaskar so highly as a batsman.<br />"He had enormous powers of concentration, an excellent technique and used to time the ball well. He always seemed to have extra time to play a stroke. That's the hall mark of a great player," he said.</p>
