Legendary Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar turns 74 on Monday (July 10). The opening batsman made his debut against the mighty West Indies on their home soil in 1971, the most difficult side at the time.
He showed his immense talent in his debut Test, scoring 774 runs in his maiden series. After that, he never looked back. He went on to set several records.
The special quality of this great man was his ability to score runs against the best attack in the world. He never wore a helmet despite facing blood-thirsty bowlers from the West Indies. However, his records against the Caribbean were superlative.
He made runs in all kinds of difficult situations in every part of the world. His technique was unique in that it dealt with all kinds of bowlers on all tracks with ease. Bowlers always wanted to see him on the non-striker end; getting him out was a challenge for every bowler.
Gavaskar is the first cricketer to accumulate 10,000 runs in Test cricket. He achieved the feat in March 1987 in Ahmedabad, against arch rival Pakistan. He played 125 Tests and scored 10,122 runs before hanging up his bat. He appeared last time in Test cricket against Pakistan in Bengaluru (Bangalore).
In his illustrious career, he hit 34 centuries. The ‘Little Master’ broke lots of records; later, Sachin Tendulkar went on to break his records. Records are made to be broken.
Credit should be given to Gavaskar for bringing about a revolution in Test cricket for India. He became the hero of many players, who later represented India.
Gavaskar played in the 1983 Cricket World Cup. As a senior member of the side, he encouraged the India team to go ahead, which later lifted its maiden title under the captaincy of Kapil Dev. India conquered the dangerous West Indies in the final at Lord’s.
Indian cricket will never forget the services of former skipper Sunil Gavaskar.