Former India captain and one of the greatest batsmen the world has ever seen, Sunil Gavaskar, turns 72 on Saturday. Also referred to as Sunny, Gavaskar was pivotal to India’s rise as a cricketing nation in the '70s and '80s, standing up to the fearsome West Indies fast bowlers and that too without a helmet.
Gavaskar was the first batsman to cross the 10,000-run mark in Test cricket and also held the record for the most Test hundreds (34) before it was broken by another Mumbai legend, Sachin Tendulkar.
A member of the 1983 World Cup-winning squad, Gavaskar finished with Test career with 10,122 runs from 125 Tests at an average of 51.12. He also scored 3092 runs in 108 ODIs at an average of 35.13, with his lone hundred coming against New Zealand in the 1987 World Cup. Post retirement, he successfully switched to commentary and is renowned for his incisive analysis on the game.
Wishes poured in for Gavaskar on the occasion of his 72nd birthday on Saturday from fans as well as the cricketing fraternity. Here is a compilation of some tweets from social media.
Sunil Gavaskar recently attended Wimbledon with Dinesh Karthik
Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik and Gavaskar were at Wimbledon on Friday to catch some live action from the world’s premier tennis tournament. Both Karthik and Gavaskar are in the UK on commentary duty. Sharing a picture from Wimbledon with Gavaskar, Karthik tweeted:
“Wimble-Done #Wimbledon #Wimbledon2021.”
Gavaskar’s son Rohan trolled Karthik with a light-hearted tweet, pointing out that the keeper-batsman first replaced him in the Indian team and now at Wimbledon. Rohan's tweet read:
“When dk made his debut for India , he took my spot in the playing 11 against England. He has now taken my spot at Wimbledon too. Hope you guys had some strawberries and cream and washed it down with some pimms, buddy.”
Rohan played 11 ODIs for India and scored 151 runs with one half-century, failing to replicate the success of his legendary father.
More than three decades after his retirement, Sunil Gavaskar remains a role model for many budding cricketers, especially in India. Another Indian legend, Tendulkar has often described Gavaskar as his hero.
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