Credit: ICC
On July 10, 1949, Sunil Gavaskar was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) to Meenal and Manohar Gavaskar. He made his international debut for India with the Test match against West Indies in Trinidad. In his debut game, he scored 65 and an unbeaten 67 and India won that game by seven wickets. It marked India’s maiden Test win on Caribbean soil. India later won that red-ball series by 1-0. In the team's memorable series triumph, Gavaskar shone with his bat and emerged as the highest run-scorer. The right-handed batter racked up 774 runs with four hundreds and three fifties in eight innings of four matches.
In the final Test played at Port of Spain, he scripted history after scoring 124 and 220. With these innings in the game, he became the first India player to notch up a ton and double century in the same Test. In 1976, Gavaskar was seen leading Team India for the first time against New Zealand in a Test, played in Auckland. As a skipper, he led from the front and hammered 116 from his bat in the first. India beat the hosts Black Caps by eight wickets. In November 1976, Gavaskar scored his international century in India with his 119 runs against New Zealand at the iconic Wankhede Stadium. Gavaskar was also a member of Team India that won the World Cup 1983 under Kapil Dev’s captaincy. In the victory, he contributed 59 runs in six games.
Sunil Gavaskar’s incredible Test records
In March 1987, Gavaskar became the first international player to complete 10000 Test runs. He pulled off the milestone against Pakistan in a Test game, played in Ahmedabad. Gavaskar also retired as the batter with most Test tons (34). His record was shattered by Sachin Tendulkar, who is currently holding the feat with 51 red-ball hundreds.
Gavaskar also became one of the Wisden cricketers of the year in 1980, for his extraordinary batting performance in 1979. In the longest form of the sport, he scored 1407 runs in 26 innings of 17 games.
