Sunil Manohar Gavaska

Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (born July 10, 1949 at Bombay, Maharashtra), nicknamed Sunny, was a cricket player during the 1970s and 1980s for Bombay and India. He is considered one of the greatest opening batsmen in the sport’s history.

He made a spectacular test debut in 1971 scoring 774 runs in his first test series against the West Indies helping India win for the first time in the Caribbean. From then until his retirement in 1987 he was a mainstay of the Indian batting line-up. In 1983 Gavaskar broke one of the oldest and most prestigious records in the game: Donald Bradman’s 29 test centuries. At the start of 2004, Gavaskar was sole holder of the record for the most number of test centuries (34); his countryman Sachin Tendulkar equalled that record that December. Gavaskar remains the only player to score centuries in each innings three times. He was also the first batsman to reach 10,000 test runs and held the record for the most number of runs until it was broken by Allan Border.

Gavaskar was captain of the Indian team on several occasions in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, though here his record is more mixed. Often equipped with weak bowling attacks he tended to use conservative tactics which resulted in a large number of draws. Still he had several successes as captain especially a 2-0 victory over Pakistan in 1979 and a victory in the World Championship of Cricket held in Australia in 1985. On the downside there was a heavy defeat against Pakistan in 1982 which cost him the captaincy until the 1984/85 home series against England.

Overall he played 125 test matches and scored 10,122 runs at an average of 51.12. He scored 34 centuries and 45 half-centuries with a highest score of 236 not out.

His solid and defensive style of play was less suited to the shorter form of the game, at which he had less success. He famously scored an ignominous 36 not out carrying his bat through the full 60 overs against England in the 1975 World Cup. Overall he played 108 ODI matches and scored 3092 runs at an average of 35.13 with one century and 27 half-centuries and a highest score of 103 not out.

He was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1980 and has also been awarded the Padma Bhushan. He has served as the Sheriff of Mumbai. He is now a writer and commentator and also serves as the Chairman of the ICC cricket committee. He has written four books on cricket – Sunny days (autobiography), Idols, Runs n’ Ruins and One day wonders. He also served as an advisor to the Indian cricket team during the home series against Australia in 2004.

His son Rohan is also a cricketer who plays at the national level.

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy has been instituted in his (co-)honor.