I had to apologise for calling Narayan hard-arsed: Gibbs

Johannesburg, Nov 2 (PTI) Besides facing a "hostile"
grilling for his alleged involvement in the 2000 match-fixing
scandal, Herschelle Gibbs also had to apologise to the then
Delhi Police Crime Branch Commissioner Ranjit Narayan for
publicly calling him 'hard-arsed'.

In his autobiography, 'To the Point', the out-of-favour
South African opener also disclosed that he had indulged in
'tonsil hockey' (deep kissing) with a German girl at the Taj
Hotel the night before being questioned by police in the
Indian capital.
Gibbs wrote about his return to India to face questioning
following his role in the 'Hansiegate' saga (telephonic
conversations of then South African captain Hansie Cronje with
an Indian bookmaker were intercepted by police) in 2000.
After initially refusing to be part of South Africa's
squad for an India tour for the fear of being arrested, Gibbs,
accompanied by his lawyer Peter Whelan, travelled to the
country to face grilling by a four-man panel.
"Our flight to India was via Dubai and Peter spent about
eight of those hours coaching me on the upcoming grilling I
was sure to get," Gibbs wrote in the book.
"Remember that the King Commission (in South Africa) had
been five years earlier and we knew the Indians would be
looking for any discrepancies between my testimony back then
and what I would have to say to them now.
"I think the Indians were pretty taken aback when I
turned up with both my lawyer and the High Commissioner. I was
hustled inside to see K K Paul, who had been my Indian nemesis
for the past six years. 'Hello, Mr Gibbs,' he said. 'I'm a big
fan of yours'. Not exactly the reception I had been expecting
from him!"
"...a four-man panel, headed by the joint commissioner of
the Delhi Police Crime Branch, Ranjit Narayan, bombarded me
with questions for about three hours. It was a hostile
situation, make no mistake, and it wasn't helped either by the
fact that I'd publicly said Commissioner Narayan was
'hard-arsed'.
"The Commissioner wasn't happy about that at all, and he
even brought it up during the questioning. I had to apologise.
His arse was not so hard after all," Gibbs wrote.
Gibbs said he was convinced that the Indian authorities
were determined to nail him because they had already banned
quite a few of their cricketers.
One of the commissioners, described as 'a tough-looking
old Sikh gentleman who headed Delhi's Murder and Robbery
team', tried to intimidate Gibbs with the death penalty, Gibbs
stated.
"'Sir, you had better come clean. We still have the death
penalty here," he told Gibbs.
"Needless to say, Peter jumped right in with both feet
and threatened to end the meeting right there if they tried
this kind of intimidating tactic," Gibbs wrote.
In the book, Gibbs also revealed how his lawyer had made
a contingency arrangement if the player was indeed arrested in
India, despite a verbal assurance by Paul who, however, didn't
give that in writing.
"He had a full legal team on stand-by fearing arrest.
He'd got the top legal firm in Delhi on full alert just in
case."
Just when Gibbs thought his ordeal was over, he got a
call from Leslie Sackstein, Cronje's lawyer, while enjoying
lunch with the High Commissioner.
"(He) wanted to know what the hell I had said. It was
pure political opportunism on Narayan's part," Gibbs said
referring to a press conference by Narayan "where he hinted
that I had implicated more Proteas players in the whole
drama."
It must be mentioned that Whelan had called a meeting
with the Proteas the next day, to reassure the players of what
Gibbs had actually said.
Besides the match-fixing saga, Gibbs has also detailed
his sexual escapades especially while on tour of Australia.
Gibbs also lists five Australian cricketers in a section
on his top-10 players -– Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Ricky
Ponting, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne.
No Indian features in Gibbs' list, the others being
Muthiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka, Viv Richards and Brian Lara
of the West Indies, Wasim Akram of Pakistan, and Peter Kirsten
as the only player from his home side, South Africa.
"As far as women are concerned, the Proteas' tour to
Australia from December 1997 to January 1998 was like going
shopping," Gibbs wrote in a chapter titled 'The good times'.
"From the day we set foot there, women were falling into
our laps virtually every night. They came hunting, often in
packs," Gibbs continued as he detailed his own sexual exploits
and those of some unnamed teammates.
The controversial player's fondness for booze and women
is also candidly recalled in a section where he recounted
defying instructions and staying out at night during a tour of
New Zealand in 1999.
"I was fined R5,000, which made my escapade the previous
evening the most expensive shag I ever had."
Gibbs admits to having had a drinking problem that
eventually got him into rehabilitation after a string of
problems.
"...there were many times when I'd be drunk the night
before a game, yet the next day be able to deliver an
outstanding performance." PTI FH
HMI