Sunil Manohar “Sunny” Gavaskar (born: July 10, 1949) is a former Indian cricketers who is regarded as one of the best opening batsmen in cricket history. He set numerous records throughout his entire cricketing career for Test runs and most Test centuries scored by any batsman. Gavaskar made his Test debuted in March 6, 1971 against West Indies at Port of Spain. He captained the national team on and off over a period between 1978 and 1985 which included 2-0 win over Pakistan in 1979/80.
Greatest Sporting Achievements
Gavaskar was the first Test cricket player to make over 10,000 runs, held the highest number of test centuries (34), scored 1000 runs or more in a calendar year on 4 occasions, completed innings of a Test on five occasions.
In 1980, Sunil Gavaskar was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year.
Why Was He So Good?
Many cricket fans admire his techniques when it comes to fast bowling though his captaincy of the Indian team was less successful. He possessed a four-pronged fast bowling attack regarded as the most vicious in Test history.
What You May Not Know
- Gavaskar became a commentator and columnist after retiring in 1988. He also wrote a couple of cricket books and an autobiography entitled, “Sunny Days”.
- He started playing cricket at such a young age. His father and uncle had been a former Indian Test wicketkeeper.
- Sunil Gavaskar went to St. Xavier’s school because of the school’s cricketing traditions. He was named India’s Best Schoolboy Cricketer of the year in 1966.
- He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1980 by the Government of India for his contributions to cricket and the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.
- He also played the lead role in the Marathi movie, ‘Savil Premachi'.