Top 10 overseas Test knocks by Indian captains in the history of the game

#9 Sunil Gavaskar – 116 vs New Zealand (Auckland - 1976)

In 1971, India had found a batting maestro in Sunil Gavaskar (1971 was the year Gavaskar made his debut as well). And also, India were doing pretty well in the 1970s – winning a quite a bit away from home.

In 1976 when India toured New Zealand, Sunil Gavaskar led the team in the first Test. It was his debut as skipper. New Zealand won the toss in that Test and elected to bat first. They could only manage 266 in the first innings.

In reply, Sunil Gavaskar put up a wonderful performance on captaincy debut to put India in the driver’s seat. After the early loss of Dilip Vengsarkar, Gavaskar took complete control of the innings along with Surinder Amarnath (who scored 124). In his 6-hour stay at the crease, he stroked his way to a classy 116.

His 116 was instrumental in India posting 414 and taking a crucial first-innings lead and eventually winning the game.