MUMBAI – Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar on Saturday remembered thetime when the former Pakistan captain threw him a ‘challenge’ to make himextend his plans to retire.

In a column written on *Times of Indialink*,the former Indian batsman talked about the incident which took place whilethe two were having lunch in London in 1986 when Gavaskar told him he plansto retire at the end of India’s tour of England.

“‘You can’t retire now. Pakistan is coming to India next year and I want tobeat India in India. If you aren’t part of that team, it won’t be the same.Come on, let’s have one last tilt against each other,’ Imran Khan repliedwhen I told him I planned to retire at the end of the India tour ofEngland,” Gavaskar wrote in the column.

The 69-year-old further recalled telling Khan that if the tour was notannounced before the final Test against England, he would make theannouncement. “I said if the announcement of the tour wasn’t made beforethe final Test, I would go ahead and announce my retirement frominternational cricket. The tour was indeed announced in a few days,”Gavaskar wrote.

“Pakistan won the last and final Test of that series after the earlierTests were all drawn and thus beat India for the first time in India,”Gavaskar added.