Sunil Gavaskar stepped onto the field for India for the first time on 6 March 1971.
The famous Sunil Gavaskar Test debut - beginning of the series that made 774 famous - happened on March 6, 1971 when a 21-year-old batsman from Mumbai stepped onto the field to face the likes of Vanburn Holder, Grayson Shillingford and Sir Garry Sobers.
By the time the five-match Test series was over, Sunil Gavaskar became a household name as he created a world record of scoring the most runs in a debut Test series. He scored 774 runs in just 4 games at an average of 154.80 and was the highest run-getter in the series.
Gavaskar became the ultimate batsman of his era and created many world records. He was the first batsman to go past Sir Don Bradman’s record of 29 Test centuries and he finished with 5 more. He was also the first man in the history of Test cricket to score 10,000 runs.
Sachin Tendulkar leads the tributes on 50th anniversary of Sunil Gavaskar’s Test debut
50 years post the day he stepped onto the field for the first time as an India cricketer, BCCI has felicitated Sunil Gavaskar with a special Test cap that reads ‘Celebrating 50 years’.
Here is the video and a few pictures from the felicitation that took place during the Lunch break on Day 3 of the fourth Test between India and England in Ahmedabad:
Celebrating 50 years of Sunil Gavaskar's Test debut ????????
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 6, 2021
The cricketing world paid tribute to the legendary former India Captain Mr. Sunil Gavaskar on the occasion of his 50th anniversary of his Test debut for India. @Paytm #INDvENG
Full video ???? ???? https://t.co/k97YiyvcmR pic.twitter.com/za4Soq0yMh
Celebrating 5️⃣0️⃣ glorious years of the legendary former #TeamIndia Captain Mr. Sunil Gavaskar's Test debut today ???????? ???????? @GCAMotera @Paytm pic.twitter.com/XVcTJfqypg
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 6, 2021