Sunil Gavasker

Name : Sunil Manohar Gavaskar
Birthday : 10 July 1949, Bombay
Country : India
Batting : Right Hand Bat
Bowling : Right Arm Medium
Test Debut : vs West Indies at Port-of-Spain, 2nd Test, 1970/71
Last Test : vs Pakistan at Bangalore, 5th Test, 1986/87
ODI Debut : vs England at Leeds, Prudential Trophy, 1974
Latest ODI : vs England at Bombay, World Cup, 1987/88

Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1980, Gavaskar has been conferred with the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India. A right-handed batsman with a near perfect technique and a solid defence, he preferred playing in the V. His straight drives, square drives and the flick-to-leg were worth going miles to see. After being frustrated by the slippery pace of Malcolm Marshall, in the home series of 1983-84 against the West Indies, Gavaskar showed that he could play the hook, pull and square cut with equal authority and went on to score his 29th and 30th centuries. He thus surpassed Sir Donald Bradmans record of 29 test hundreds. In 125 tests, he scored 10,122 runs at an average of 51.12 with 34 hundreds, 45 fifties and a highest score of 236 n.o. He also claimed one wicket, that of the legendary Zaheer Abbas. In 108 one-day internationals, he scored 3,092 runs at an average of 35.13 and a highest score of 103 n.o. After he retired from tests, he played for the World Eleven against MCC at Lords, in the MCC Bicentenary match in 1987 and scored a big hundred. A captain with a rather defensive outlook, he led India to a few test wins, but excelled in the World Championship of Cricket in 1985 to stamp Indias authority on one-day cricket of the mid 1980s.

Gavaskar, the living legend of Indian sport, has served as the Sheriff of Mumbai and is now an accomplished journalist, writer and commentator. A brother-in-law of the other batting legend, G.R. Vishwanath, his son Rohan plays for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy and has represented India A in international matches.

Sunil Gavaskar was a complete opening batsman. He combined a rock solid defence with an ability to dispatch the bad ball for four. For a part of his career, he eschewed the cut and the hook, preferring to play within the "V". Though short in stature (5'4"), his best strokes were drives off the front foot, to both sides of the wicket. His success in his debut series in the West Indies in 1971 (774 runs at 154.80) led Lord Relator to lament in a calypso, "We couldn't out him at all!" For a large part of his career, he seemed to stand between India and defeat. Some of his best innings came in Indian losses, including 3 centuries in Pakistan. During his career, he played a significant role as India managed to score the highest 4th innings totals to win (102 out of 406/4), and tie (90 out of 347) a Test, and the second highest to draw (221 out of 429/9) one. During his 221, he personally added 179 on the last day, still the most runs scored by an Indian in a single day of Test cricket.

In 1983-84, after a string of low scores against Marshall and the West Indies, he decided to shed the shackles, and answered with a 94-ball century at Delhi. 4 Tests later, the series lost 3-0, he came in at no. 4, with India 0/2, and scored his 30th Test century, surpassing Don Bradman. His 236* in that innings still stands as India's highest individual Test score.

Slow to adjust to one-day cricket, he scored 36* off 60 overs against England in 1975. At the other end of the scale, his only century, coming in his last but one one-day match, was off 85 balls. His captaincy appeared too defensive at times, perhaps conditioned by his many solo battles as a batsman in defence of India. The highlights of his captaincy were a 2-0 Test win over Pakistan in 1979-80, and a win the World Championship of Cricket in 1985.

After having battled speedsters around the world for 16 years, his last Test innings was a classic display against spin bowling, a 96 on a minefield at Bangalore. His safe catching in the slips led to his being the first Indian (excluding wicket-keepers) to take over a hundred catches. Early in his career, he occasionally opened the bowling for India, which says more about India's disregard for opening bowlers than anything else. After retirement, he has been a popular, sometimes controversial commentator, both on TV and in print