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Happy Birthday Sunil Gavaskar!

Posted July 10, 2012 @ 13:00 pm
by mtv editor

We wish Sunny Gavaskar a joyous year ahead!

Happy Birthday Sunil Gavaskar!

 

His full name was Sunil Manohar Gavaskar, born in Mumbai on 10th of July 1949. Gavaskar's batting style was the right hand and his bowling style was right arm medium. A few of his achievements are as follows:


- First player to score more than 10,000 runs in Tests

- One of the only two players to score centuries in each innings, three times

- Highest number of runs in a debut series by an Indian (774 against West Indies)

- Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1980

- Awarded Padma Bhushan

 

Sunil Manohar Gavaskar, popularly known as Sunil Gavaskar has been an Indian Cricket player and considered to be one of the all time best opening batsmen in the history of Test Cricket. Sunil is known for having set many batting records that lied unbroken for long years after some other batsman. He was the biggest Test scorer with the biggest number of centuries to his credit during his times. His record of scoring 34 Test centuries took 20 years to be broken when Sachin Tendulkar outclassed it in the year 2005. Gavaskar was especially quite good against the fast bowlers, and maintained a decent average of 65.45 runs against the super-fast West Indian bowlers. He also served as the Captain of the Indian Cricket team, although the team couldn’t fare much better under his leadership. In fact,during his captaincy the Indian cricket team one played 31 Test matches without a single victory.

 

Sunil Manohar Gavaskar is probably the only technically correct cricketer in the world.Many players have big records but nobody ever played cricket straighter than Sunny Gavaskar.He is a textbook of cricket technique. His records suggest he was a great cricketer,ofcourse,but how many of you have seen a batsman play a bowler's backdrive such that it travelled just about four inches past the stumps on the opposite end to reach the boundary even before the bowler stopped in his follow through? ...And do this consistently atleast once in every innings!?. 

 

 

How many batsmen have you seen bending their knees and delicately late cutting a spinners delivery almost out of the wicket keeper's gloves?The Latecut seems to have retired from Indian Test Cricket along with Sunil Gavaskar. 
How many 5'4" batsmen have you seen play a highspeed short ball, aimed at his forehead, in such a way that it dropped near his feet and stayed there till a close-in fielder picked it up?All this without even a helmet to wear!. 
How many cricket commentators have you seen recognise Saqlain Mustaq's "Straight delivery" just by looking at the "Seam and Shine" position of the ball at the time of delivery?Even Sachin Tendulkar has got out to this delivery three consequetive times!. 
I'm not Dom Moraes but this is an effort to pay tribute to the world's greatest cricketer.I'm sure all those who have seen him play will agree with me... As for those who have not seen Sunny play and still love the game you might as well compensate a little by watching the likes of Sachin Tendulkar,Mark Waugh and Brian Lara. 

 

Currently retired from First Class Cricket Sunil Gavaskar writes regular columns in Newspapers, Sports magazines and for The Professional Management Group. He is also a very popular Television Commentator on International Sports Channels. Sunil Gavaskar has written three books SUNNY DAYS, IDOLS and ONE DAY WONDERS. On the ocassion of his 50th birthday in the year '99 Rupa Publications has come up with a compilation of all his three books in one called THE SUNIL GAVASKAR OMNIBUS.

 

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Tags: cricket , Cricketer , sport , Sunil Gavakar

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