Known all over the world as the original little Master, this prodigy born on July 10, 1949, was the first cricketer in the world to cross the 10,000 run mark in test cricket. He broke Don Bradman’s record of 29 centuries besides dozens of other records and was the best opening batsman of his era.

Sunil Manohar Gavaskar is 60 today.  

Sunny, as he is known to his fans, was the best schoolboy cricketer of India in 1966 and made his debut in the Mumbai Ranji team in the 68/69 season against Karnataka. His exploits in that season earned him a berth into the Indian team touring the West Indies in 1970. History was created when he scored 774 in the series, a record that still stands tall today. His exploits against the West Indies earned him a tremendous fan following there and Trinidadian Calypso singer William Harris (Lord Relator) even penned a song in Gavaskar’s honour.

Gavaskar was a prolific scorer of runs and the English fans who had earlier refused to accept the talented youngster, were in awe when he returned to English shores in 1974 and belted the attack all over the place. His world record breaking 106 consecutive appearances started from the Mumbai test in 1976. In between, he also suffered the ignonimity of scoring 35 runs in 60 overs in the first limited overs World Cup (1975, Prudential Cup against East Africa).

Gavaskar’s brush with captaincy came in 1976 in Auckland when he was standing in for the injured Bishen Singh Bedi. He scored a century as captain and enabled India to win by 8 wickets. He was famous for being a conservative captain and was always looking for a draw in test matches. That was perhaps because the famous spin quartet of Indian bowling Bedi, Prasanna, Venkataraghavan and Chandrasekhar were about to retire and a new breed of bowlers was emerging. Among them was Kapil Dev, who would emerge a hero on his own.

Meanwhile Gavaskar continued his glorious streak of scoring runs and managed 1000 in a calendar year on four successive occasions. He crossed Bradman’s record of 29 centuries  and finished with 34, a record finally broken by another Mumbai prodigy, Sachin Tendulkar years later. He was the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in test cricket. He was not known for his exploits in the one day arena, however, he wanted to prove that he still had it in him as a one day player and blasted the New Zealand attack in the 1987 World Cup in Nagpur for a quickfire 103.

He was feared and admired by even his staunchest adversaries, for there was nothing more pleasing than to watch Sunny playing a perfect stroke in the ‘V’ and the ball running past the bowler to the boundary line. I have yet to see a better player of the bouncer or Yorker. With a deft touch of soft hands he would jump up in the air and the ball would touch the top of the bat and come down smoothly without evening bouncing for the second time or moving anywhere near the close in fielder. His flick off the toes, when facing a Yorker would always fetch him runs. Many may not know this but he was also an opening bowler along with Abid Ali for the Indian team, when he was required to take the shine off the ball, before the spin quartet could take over. He was also an excellent slip fielder and a very quick runner.

He is outspoken and wears the colours of India on his sleeves. He even refused MCC membership as a steward returned him from the gates of Lords. His controversial recalling of Chetan Chauhan in Australia is still vivid in everybody’s memory, but today, the Australia-India matches are known as Gavaskar-Border trophy, a tribute to his greatness.

Married to Marshneil, Sunny has one son; Rohan who represented India in ODIs but failed to cement his place as his father once did. Sunny always did things on his own terms and is one of the few cricketers who left the scene when they were on a high. He delayed the announcement of his departure from international cricket as he wanted to play for the World XI and achieve the only blemish he had in his career – of not scoring a century at Lords. He hit a spectacular 152 against the English team in that match and bowed out of the game.

Gavaskar is known for his quick wit, satire and writing abilities. He penned four books which have been international best sellers, Idols, Runs and ruins, One day wonders and his bestselling autobiography – Sunny Days.

He has since taken up various responsibilities with ICC, BCCI and the media. He is now with the ESPN STAR commentary team. He was recently inducted as one of the three Indians in the ICC Hall of fame (with Bishen Bedi and Kapil Dev)
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Lord Relator’s Calypso:
It was Gavaskar,
The real master  
Just like a wall,
We couldn't  out Gavaskar at all,
Not at all;
You know the West Indies
 Couldn’t out Gavaskar at all"
We at Indian Weekender pray “that all of us couldn’t out Gavaskar at all” – May he score a century of years!