kmhouseindia: Sunil Gavaskar - Cricketer of Many Firsts in Indian Cricket

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Sunil Gavaskar - Cricketer of Many Firsts in Indian Cricket

Sunil Gavaskar also known as Sunny and Little Master was one of the greatest opening batsmen of all time in Test Cricket, and certainly the most successful.His game was built around a near-perfect technique and enormous powers of concentration. It is hard to visualise a more beautiful defence: virtually unbreachable, it made his wicket among the hardest to earn. He played with equal felicity off both front and back feet, had excellent judgement of length and line, and was beautifully balanced

Sunil Gavaskar made his Test Cricket Debut in 1971 against West Indies and scored 774 runs at 154.80 in the 4 tests he played (61+67*+116+64*+1+117*+124+220)remains the most runs scored in a debut series by any batsman

Sunil Gavaskar is very strong in technique and extremely good against fast bowling which is shown by his high average of 65.45 against the West Indies

Sunil Gavaskar had the ability of keeping the scoreboard ticking with unique shots such as the "late flick"

In 1977–78 he toured Australia, scoring three consecutive Test centuries (113, 127, 118) in the second innings of the first three Tests at Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne respectively
In the 1978-79 tour of Pakistan Sunil Gavaskar scored 111 and 137 in the Third Test which made him the first Indian to score two centuries in one Test on two occasions(earlier against WestTndies in 1971 in the 5th Test scoring 124 & 220)

His 205 in the First Test in Bombay made him the FIRST INDIAN CRICKETER to score a DOUBLE CENTURY IN INDIA AGAINST WEST INDIES. He added a further 73 in the second innings of a high scoring draw. After failing to score in the Second Test, he scored 107 and 182 not out in the Third Test at Calcutta another high scoring draw. This made him the FIRT PLAYER TO SCORE CENTURY IN EACH INNINGS THRICE.
Sunil Gavaskar became the 1st Indian to make 4 Tons in one Test series, the2nd Indian after Vijay Hazare to score 2 Tons in the same Test, and the 3rd after Hazare and Polly Umrigar to score centuries in 3 consecutive innings.

Sunil Gavaskar scored his 29th Test century in 94 balls, equalling Don Bradman’s world record and passed 8000 Test runs in the innings

Sunil Gavaskar was also a fine slip fielder and his safe catching in the slips helped him become the 1st Indian (excluding wicket-keepers) to take over 100 catches in Test matches

Sunil Gavaskar scored his first (and only ODI century) in the 1987 World Cup, when he hit 103 not out against New Zealand

Sunil Gavaskar's Records

1) 1st Indian to aggregate more than 700 runs in a test series(1971 Series agaist West Indies)

2) 774 runs at 154.80 scored in 1971 series against West Indies remains the most runs scored in a "Debut Series" by any batsman

3) held the record of 34 Test centuries for almost two decades before it was broken by Sachin Tendulkar in December 2005.

4)made him the second player after Doug Walters to score a century and double century in the same match when he scored 124 & 220 against West Indies in the 5th Test at Port-of-Spain, Trinidad

5) also became the first Indian to make 4 Tons in one Test series when he scored 116 & 64 in the Third Test in Georgetown, Guyana; 1 and 117* in the Fourth Test in Bridgetown, Barbados and 124 and 220 in the 5th Test at Port-of-Spain, Trinidad in the 1971 series

6) first batsman to score 10,000 runs in Test Matches