Profile of Sunil Gavaskar on Famous Like Me

Sunil Gavaskar India (IND)
Batting style	Right-handed batsman (RHB)
Bowling type	Right-arm medium
	Tests	ODIs
Matches	125	108
Runs scored	10122	3092
Batting average	51.12	35.13
100s/50s	34/45	1/27
Top score	236*	103*
Overs bowled	63.2	3.2
Wickets	1	1
Bowling average	206	25
5 wickets in innings	0	0
10 wickets in match	0	N/A
Best bowling	1/34	1/10
Catches/stumpings	108/0	22/0
As of July, 2005 Source: [} http://content.cricinfo.com/india/content/player/28794.html Cricinfo.com]

Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (born July 10, 1949 at Bombay, Maharashtra), nicknamed Sunny, was a cricket player during the 1970s and 1980s for Bombay and India. He is considered one of the greatest opening batsmen in the history of the sport.

He made a spectacular test debut in 1971 scoring 774 runs in his first test series against the West Indies helping India win for the first time in the Caribbean. From then until his retirement in 1987 he was a mainstay of the Indian batting line-up. In 1983 Gavaskar broke one of the oldest and most prestigious records in the game: Donald Bradman's total of 29 test centuries. At the start of 2004, Gavaskar was sole holder of the record for the most number of test centuries (34); his countryman Sachin Tendulkar equalled that record that December. Gavaskar remains the only player to score centuries in each innings, three times. He was also the first batsman to reach 10,000 test runs and held the record for the most number of runs until it was broken by Allan Border.

Gavaskar was captain of the Indian team on several occasions in the late '70s and early '80s, though here his record is more mixed. Often equipped with weak bowling attacks he tended to use conservative tactics which resulted in a large number of draws. Still he had several successes as captain especially a 2-0 victory over Pakistan in 1979-80 and a victory in the World Championship of Cricket held in Australia in early 1985. On the downside there was a heavy defeat against Pakistan in 1982-83 which cost him the captaincy until the 1984/85 home series against England.

Gavaskar was also a fine slip fielder and his safe catching in the slips helped him become the first Indian (excluding wicket-keepers) to take over a hundred catches in test matches. Perhaps his most memorable display of catching was in a one-day international against Pakistan in Sharjah in 1985 when he took four catches and helped India defend a small total of 125. Early in his test career,when India rarely used pace bowlers, Gavaskar also opened the bowling on occasion.

While Gavaskar couldn't be described as an attacking batsman, he had the remarkable ability of keeping the scoreboard ticking with unique shots such as the "late flick". On occasions however, he would resort to a very attacking mode, such as against West Indies at Delhi in 1983 when he hooked and pulled Michael Holding and Malcolm Marshall to reach his 100 off just 94 balls. Still his style of play was usually less suited to the shorter form of the game, at which he had less success. He famously scored an ignominous 36 not out carrying his bat through the full 60 overs against England in the 1975 World Cup. In contrast to his record-breaking 34 test centuries, Gavaskar almost went through his career without scoring a one-day century. He finally managed his first in the 1987 World Cup, when he hit a blistering 103 not out against New Zealand.

Gavaskar was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1980 and has also been awarded the Padma Bhushan. In 1994 he was appointed the Sheriff of Mumbai. After retirement, he has been a popular, sometimes controversial commentator, both on TV and in print . He has written four books on cricket - Sunny days (autobiography), Idols, Runs n' Ruins and One day wonders. He also served as an advisor to the Indian cricket team during the home series against Australia in 2004 and currently serves as the Chairman of the ICC cricket committee.

His son Rohan is also a cricketer who plays at the national level in the Ranji Trophy. He has played some One Day Internationals for India, but could not cement his spot in the team.

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy has been instituted in his (co-)honor.

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