Sunil Gavaskar – The Legend of Cricket

Indian cricket has seen some of the most prolific cricketers over the years making their mark in the World cricket arena and Sunil Gavaskar can certainly be quoted as one of the most celebrated player in the list. Whilst being the spearhead of the Indian Batting line up for almost two decades, Gavaskar has put his name to numerous records in the cricket world and that is the reason why he is been considered amongst the most elite cricketers in the history of the game.

Childhood and Family Background

Sunil Gavaskar was born and brought up in a middle class family and his father Manohar Gavaskar has earned some god name in cricket at the club level. Moreover, his uncle Madhav Mantri has been a former wicketkeeper who has also played for India in the past. Young Sunil always has a charm for the cricket sport and that was the reason he went along with his passion in such an early age by joining the St Xavier’s School which was very well famous for its Cricket skills and training in those times.

His passion made him indulged big time in the school cricket and that was the reason he was being named as the best school boy cricketer in the year 1966. Moreover, his big list of brilliant performances on the cricket pitch brought him bigger rewards as he went on to make his first class debut whilst playing for the Vazir Sultan Colts XI in 1966.

Cricket Career Highlights

After having a great run in the Indian domestic circuit, Gavaskar made a dream start to his International cricket career by scoring 774 runs in his debut series against the deadly pace attack of the West Indies team. That was the sole reason he became an overnight star in the Indian cricket and whilst the team didn’t performed too well against the Cricket superpowers like Australia, England and West indies, Gavaskar was the only hope for the cricket fans around.

His dream debut didn’t pay him same rewards in the following matches as he didn’t been able to perform up to his levels in the England tour. However, he made a drastic comeback by hitting back to back centuries against the West Indies team once again whilst playing a big role in team’s historic win in the third test match of the tour. Below are some of the other highlights of his celebrated cricket career:

• Even though India lost the test series, Gavaskar scored three consecutive centuries against the Australian team in the India’s tour of Australia in 1977.
• One of the best performers in the India tour of Pakistan in 1978-79 and even though he couldn’t be able to score a century until the 3^rd test of the series, he made some valuable contributions with bat during the whole series. Still, his performance in the third test was most notable when he scored a century in each of the innings.
• Sri Lanka was given the test status in 1982 and Gavaskar scored a remarkable 155 runs in one off the test against the minnows in the test series at home
• Scored a century and two half century against the arch rivals Pakistan in the home series in 1987. Though all the matches of the series ended in a draw.

Career Awards and Achievements

When it comes to Sunil Gavaskar, you really need some good time to count his awards and achievements during his prolific cricketing career. At a time when batsman was mostly threatened by some of the fierce pace bowling attacks, Gavaskar became the first man on the planet to reach the 10000 runs mark. Gavaskar also became the first man to break the record for highest number of test centuries which was earlier held by the Cricket great “Sir Don Bradman”. He went on to score 34 centuries in total in his career which was a world record until another Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar broke the same.

Gavaskar was also been awarded with the famous “Padma Vibhushan Award” by the Indian government for his notable contribution in the Cricket world for India in 1980 and further went on to grab the coveted “ Col CK Naidu Lifetime achievement award” in 2012. Gavaskar has always  been the most celebrated cricketers in his era and his big list of achievements has put him in the wisden all time greatest cricketers list as well.

Some Interesting Facts about Sunil Gavaskar

When Son followed Father’s path

Rohan Gavaskar, son of Sunil Gavaskar has also played for Indian cricket team on International levels and whilst he didn’t been able to repeat the legacy of his father in the process, he did make some decent contributions to his team’s victory in some of the matches in the process. Rohan played for Bengal in the Ranji trophy and has had some exceptional records to his name in the Indian domestic cricket. Moreover, he has named his son after his Cricketing Idol and West Indies star batsman Rohan Kanhai.

Gavaskar could have been a Fisherman instead

One of the most interesting facts about his life comes from his birth when he was mistakenly swapped with the child at the time of his birth. However, he was later been found sleeping beside a fisherman and his parents recognized him immediately.

From Cricketing Pitch to the Film studios

Sunil Gavaskar has featured in  Marathi movie named “Savli Premachi” and he played the lead role in the movie as well. Moreover, he has also sung a famous song “Ya Duniyemadhye Thambayaala Vel Konala” in the process.  As per him, he always wanted to become a movie star besides being a cricketer and his gesture was a part of the same strategy altogether.

A Commentator, Referee and a Writer

Although many people know about the Commentary stint of Sunil Gavaskar, they don’t know that he also acted as a referee in some of the matches after his retirement from International cricket. Gavaskar tried his hand in the refereeing role in 1 test and 5 ODIs during his career and was highly praised for his role in the same aspect. Moreover, this legendary cricketer has been the author to many books like “ Sunny Days”,” Runs and Ruins”, Idols and One day wonders. His books have been highly acclaimed and appreciated around the world.

Only Player to Score a Test Century in his 1^st,2^nd,3^rd and 4^th Innings

This is one of the most unique records that Gavaskar have under his belt even now as he is the only cricketer on the planet to have scored a century in his  1^st,2^nd,3^rd and 4^th innings. He has always been an idol to many current cricketers and been rewarded with the nickname “Little Master” by the fellow cricketers and commentators.

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