Sunil Gavaskar

One of the best opening batsmans of the Indian cricket team, Sunil Manohar Gavaskar, was born on July 10, 1949. Known among the fans as ‘Sunny’, he is regarded as one of the greatest players, Indian cricket team ever had. Sunil Gavaskar’s relationship with cricket started when he was in school. Judged as India’s ‘Best Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year’ in 1966, he made his test debut in March 1971 against West Indies.

It took him three years to make his debut in International One Day. He played his first ODI match against England in 1974. A batsman whose wicket was among the hardest ones to earn, he made a record of 34 Test centuries, which remained unchallenged for 20 years and has been recently surpassed by Sachin Tendulkar. The first batsman to reach the 10,000 Test run marks, he is also the first Indian to make four centuries in one Test series.

This list of records does not ends here, he is also the first Indian to aggregate 700 runs in a series and holds the record of most runs scored in a debut series by any batsman. This former captain of Indian cricket team played a big role in India’s world cup win in 1983. Sunil Gavaskar received many awards and accolades including the Padma Bhushan in 1980.

This multi faceted cricketer also adorned the hat of a writer when he wrote: Sunny Days, his autobiography; Runs n Ruins and One Day Wonder. Sunil Gavaskar is currently playing his second inning in cricket as a commentator.