'Within no time, I knew that Aunshu wouldn't give his wicket away, it had to be earned'

What started off as a batting partnership evolved over time into a friendship for the ages. Gundappa Viswanath and Anshuman Gaekwad weren't just long-time India teammates but shared a bond that went beyond the cricket field.

"I returned from Aunshu's house just now, and I still can't reconcile myself to the fact that I won't see him ever again. To go to his home when he is no longer with us, I never thought I'd see that day...," Viswanath's voice, raw with emotion, comes through a clear telephone line from Vadodara.

'Vishy' was at the non-striker's end when Gaekwad came out to bat for the first time in Tests, against West Indies at the Eden Gardens on New Year's Day, 1975. "There was blood on the pitch," Viswanath tells Cricbuzz. "What a way to welcome a youngster to Test cricket. The blood was very visible from where he took guard and there was no hiding from it. But if he was affected by its sight, there were definitely no signs of it."

The blood was courtesy Andy Roberts, who had hit skipper MAK 'Tiger' Pataudi flush on his face, forcing him to leave the field. India were 94 for 4 at the time against a rampant attack with Roberts at the forefront, and Bernard Julien and Vanburn Holder breathing fire. "Aunshu was only 21, and I am sure he must have been a little tense and nervous. But once he settled into his stance, all I saw was an assured presence at the crease. Within no time, I knew that Aunshu wouldn't give his wicket away, it had to be earned. And that's how he played his cricket for the rest of his career."

Viswanath and Gaekwad added 75 for the fifth wicket, a significant hand in India's eventual victory by 85 runs; Viswanath made a wondrous 139 in the second innings, a knock he considers among his best, while Gaekwad fell to spin for the second time in the match, a rare occurrence in a game involving West Indies in those days.

"Everyone has spoken about how courageous and gutsy Aunshu was with the bat," Viswanath recalls of the former opener who passed away last week. "I have seen those qualities from close quarters on so many occasions. When it came to opening the batting for India, Sunil [Gavaskar] was of course head and shoulders above everyone else. But Aunshu, he was something else. You could try every trick in the book, and he wouldn't be moved."

West Indies did try every trick in the book, and some outside of it too, during the '