We all remember the heroics of the 1983 Cricket World Cup — great players showing immense sportsmanship. After winning the 1983 World Cup the men became gentlemen.
Today, we celebrate the birthday of one of the greatest opening batters for India, Sunil Gavaskar. The legend's contribution with the bat especially in the '83 World Cup proved to be crucial for the team, therefore helping the squad to clinch the trophy.
On a special day, let's look at some of the milestones made by Sunny, The Little Master.
Gavaskar is a recipient of the Indian sports honour of the Arjuna Award and the civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan. He was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2009. In 2012, he was awarded the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for Cricket in India.
In 2003, he became the first and till now the only Indian to have delivered an MCC Spirit Of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture. On 15 October 2017, Gavaskar inaugurated a cricket field in Louisville in the state of Kentucky in the United States, thus making it the first international sporting facility named after an Indian sportsperson.
Made and delivered by Sunny
The World Cup winner became the first batter to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket. This piece of history was created in Ahmedabad in March 1987 against Pakistan in his penultimate Test match. Gavaskar finished his Test career with 10122 runs.
Gavaskar scored the highest runs by a debutant in a series — 774 runs. In 1971, he played his first Test series against the mighty West Indies team. In the eight innings that Gavaskar batted, he amassed 774 runs at a staggering average of 154.80 that including four hundred and three fifties. He also scored a double century and a century in one of the Tests in the series.
Breaking the records of the greats
Sunil Gavaskar became the first batter to go past the 29 centuries scored by Sir Don Bradman. On December 28, 1983, Gavaskar created history and scored his 30th Test ton. He went past Sir Bradman’s 29 hundred and became the leading century-maker in Test cricket. He scored a total of 34 centuries in his Test career which stood as a record for more than two long decades. In 2005, Sachin Tendulkar eventually scored his 35th Test match 100 and went past his idol.
The Little master became the only Indian batsman to play 100 consecutive Tests. Gavaskar holds the elite record of playing most consecutive Test matches for Team India. In fact, he is the only Indian to play more than 100 Tests back-to-back.
More honours by Gavaskar
Only Indian to score hundreds in both innings of the same Test three times.
He also holds the record of scoring the maximum number of runs (2,749) and centuries (13) against the West Indies.
Gavaskar is the only cricketer to score four consecutive centuries in two venues – Port of Spain and Wankhede Stadium.
Fastest Indian to score 5000 Test runs. He is the only cricketer with 58 Test century partnerships with 18 different players.
He is the first Indian fielder (excluding wicket-keepers) to bag over a hundred catches in Test cricket.
