On 6th March, 1971, a young 21 year old Sunil Gavaskar walked towards the pitch at Queen’s Park Oval, scored 65 and 67* against a lethal West Indies bowling attack and hit the winning boundary to produce one of the most defining moments in the history of Indian cricket.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the legendary Sunil Gavaskar’s India debut against West Indies.
Gavaskar scored a total of 774 runs at an average of 154.8 in his debut series and till date no player has matched that record.
In his Test career, Gavaskar scored 34 centuries and only Tendulkar (51) and Dravid (36) are the two Indians who have scored more Test hundreds than Gavaskar. When Dravid broke Gavaskar’s record of 34 Test centuries, he was asked what he felt about getting past his record. Dravid replied, “I wouldn't like to compare myself with Mr. Gavaskar who is a legend of the game. I grew up as a kid trying to be either Mr. Gavaskar or Vishwanath in my backyard. To now equal something he has done is fantastic”.
Sachin Tendulkar paid a tribute to Gavaskar my tweeting a special message for him. Several other dignitaries also congratulated Gavaskar on his milestone. Here is what they tweeted:
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