Legendary Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar is celebrating his 74th birthday today July 10, 2023. The legend considered to be one of the best openers the game has seen, was born in Dadar, Mumbai on this day in 1949.
After learning the game in the maidans of Mumbai, Gavaskar scored loads of runs for Mumbai in domestic cricket and eventually was included in the Indian team on the five-Test tour of West Indies in 1971.
And what a debut it proved to be as after missing the first Test match, Gavaskar started his Test career in the second Test and the 21-year-old announced himself with scores of 65 and 67 not out as India won by 7 wickets to lead the series 1-0 with 3 games to go.
In the third Test, he hit his first Test century and a fifty and then followed it up with a second innings 117 in the fourth Test match. In the last match of the series, he made 124 in the 1st innings and followed it up with 220 in the 2nd innings, as West Indies barely managed to draw the Test, but gave India their maiden Test series win in the Caribbean.
He finished with 774 runs in 4 Tests, scored 4 centuries and 3 fifties, and averaged 154.
He continued this consistency throughout his career, right until his final Test series against Pakistan at home in 1987. During this series, Gavaskar became the first batter in Test history to break the 10,000 runs barrier and finished with 10,122 runs in 125 Tests with a then-record 34 centuries to his name.
Gavaskar was also part of the Indian team which won the 1983 World Cup in England and captained the Men in Blue to the memorable World Championship of Cricket win in 1985 in Australia.
The legend also played 108 ODIs, scoring 3092 runs with one century and a 35.1 average. He called time of his cricket career after India lost the 1987 World Cup semi-final to England in Kolkata.
Today, Gavaskar is present in the commentary box and as a media personality, sharing his expertise with young fans.
As he celebrates his 74th birthday, Gavaskar received hearty wishes from the Indian cricket fraternity.
Here are the tweets:
