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Sunil Gavaskar
India
Full name Sunil Manohar Gavaskar
Born July 10, 1949, Bombay (now Mumbai), Maharashtra
Current age 59 years 240 days
Major teams India, Mumbai, Somerset
Also known as Sunny
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium, Right-arm offbreak
Other Referee
Height 5 ft 5 in
Education St Xavier's College; Bombay University
Relations Uncle - MK Mantri, Son - RS Gavaskar
| Test debut | West Indies v India at Port of Spain, Mar 6-10, 1971 scorecard |
| Last Test | India v Pakistan at Bangalore, Mar 13-17, 1987 scorecard |
| Test statistics | |
| ODI debut | England v India at Leeds, Jul 13, 1974 scorecard |
| Last ODI | India v England at Mumbai, Nov 5, 1987 scorecard |
| ODI statistics | |
| First-class span | 1966/67 - 1987 |
| List A span | 1973/74 - 1987/88 |
| Only Test | West Indies v England at Kingston, Feb 19-24, 1994 scorecard |
| Test matches | 1 |
| ODI debut | West Indies v England at Bridgetown, Feb 16, 1994 scorecard |
| Last ODI | West Indies v England at Port of Spain, Mar 6, 1994 scorecard |
| ODI matches | 5 |
| Profile |
Sunil Gavaskar was one of the greatest opening batsmen of all time, 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 foot, had an excellent judgement of length and line and was beautifully balanced. He had virtually every stroke in the book but traded flair for the solidity his side needed more. His record for the highest number of Test hundreds was recently overtaken by Sachin Tendulkar, but statistics alone don't reveal Gavaskar's true value to India. He earned respect for Indian cricket and he taught his team-mates the virtue of professionalism. The self-actualisation of Indian cricket began under him. Since retiring, Gavaskar has served as a television commentator, analyst and columnist, as well as various responsibilites with the BCCI and chairman of the ICC cricket committee. He recently stepped down - after some controversial comments - from the latter in orer to continue as a media columnist and commentator.
Sambit Bal June 2008
| Notes |