Lakshya's newest fan is Gavaskar

It's a rare occurence when Sunil Gavaskar, one of the greatest cricketers and a sporting icon in India, tells you he is a fan you! Lakshya Sen, to his pleasant surprise, found out on Thursday that he was in that elite list.

"Gavaskar told Lakshya that he watched him play the All England (Open Badminton championship) and the Thomas Cup and that he was a fan of Prakash (Padukone) earlier and now he is a fan of Lakshya," said Vimal Kumar, Lakshya's coach, with a laugh.

The former opener dropped in at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy and spent some time meeting and chatting with the youngsters.

The 73-year-old also posted a picture with Lakshya on Instagram with the caption: "My new badminton hero Lakshya Sen, after the one and only Prakash Padukone."

Gavaskar had long confessed his love for badminton, even dabbling in the franchise league, and his admiration for Padukone.

"He said he would rate Thomas Cup as the best Indian win, last year. He also said that he took part in the jersey auction, and all of the players had signed one after Thomas Cup win. He tried to get it. It went up to 6000 dollars or something," Vimal remarked.

"Gavaskar has always said that he watched badminton in the 80s. He also played badminton which helped his footwork."

Sen was star stuck.

"It feels good to hear such things from such big personalities. Honestly, I was too star stuck to react," Sen said.

"I have heard so much about him from my parents and all the seniors. Also when I watched the movie '83', I got to know what went behind that epic win."

Vimal was happy that the youngsters got a chance to hear from Gavaskar.

"For me, him talking to players itself is great," he said. "He is from an era where they learned by watching. So when they talk about learning, it is very important. He told them to try to analyse before sleeping whether they did the best in the training session."