On July 4th Sunil Gavaskar celebrated his 115th cricket test match at Edgbaston (England).
Sunil Manohar Gavaskar was born in Mumbai on July 10th 1949 and remains one of the greatest opening batsmen in Indian cricket history. He set a world record for the most runs and most centuries in test matches. He also held the world record for 34 test centuries for twenty years, until it was broken in December 2005 by Sachin Tendulkar. Gavaskar is also remembered as a great fast bowler and maintained an average of 65.45 against the mighty West Indies bowlers.
Sunil Gavaskar made his test debut against the on March 6th 1971 at Port of Spain. In this match, Gavaskar scored 132 runs, gaining for India its first test victory against the West Indies. Further, in the fifth test between India and West Indies, Gavaskar scored 124 and 220 runs in both matches, helping India win its first test against the West Indies.
Gavaskar’s one day international (ODI) debut took place in Leeds against England on July 13th 1974, where he scored 28 runs off 35 balls. He also captained the Indian team, though his term as captain was not as remarkable since most of the matches he led as captain were drawn. Gavaskar headed the team in 47 matches out of which they won 9, lost 8 and 30 were drawn. As captain, he led the team to 37 ODI matches, out of which they won 14, lost 21 and the result of two matches could not be decided. The last test match Gavaskar played was against Pakistan on March 13th 1987. He scored 117 runs in the match. He played his last ODI against England on November 5th 1987 and scored only 4 runs in that match.
In his overall test career, Gavaskar played 125 matches and scored a total of 10,122 runs, which included 34 centuries and 45 half centuries. His average run rate was 51.12 runs and his highest score was 236 not out. In his ODI career, Gavaskar played 108 matches in which he scored a total of 309 runs, including 1 century and 27 half centuries. His average run rate was 53.13 runs and his highest score was 103.
Gavaskar’s principal achievements include, being the first player to score more than 10,000 runs in a test match. He is also one of the two players to score centuries in each innings three times. Gavaskar was the first Indian who scored the highest number of runs in a debut series (774 runs against the West Indies). He also won the Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1980 and was honoured with the Padma Bhushan by the Indian Government.
Gavaskar has also penned four books on cricket and was appointed the honorary Sheriff of Mumbai in 1994. Apart from this, he has also been named the advisor of the Indian cricket team and the chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee. A cricket test series between India and Australia has been named after him and Alan Border, called the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The day at Egbaston was a special one indeed for Gavaskar, marking the 115th time he played a test for Team India.
Also On This Day:
1789 - British East India Company signed a treaty with the Nizam of Hydrabad and Peshwa of Pune against Tipu Sultan.
1897 - Famous Punjabi novelist Nanaksingh is born.
1900 - Swami Shivanand Saraswati, religious leader, is born.
1902 - Indian religious leader Swami Vivekananda dies.
1933 - Mahatma Gandhi is sentenced to an year of imprisonment.
