Sunil Gavaskar

The original Little Master who conquered the West Indies and redefined Indian batting.

Born on 10 July 1949, Sunil Manohar Gavaskar is a former Indian cricketer who also works as a cricket commentator.^[1] In Test cricket, Gavaskar became the initial batter to exceed 10,000 runs, and he is widely regarded as among the finest opening batsmen ever.^[1] The Arjuna Award and Padma Bhushan were given to Gavaskar, and in 2009 he was placed into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.^[2]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Office: Sheriff of Mumbai
Predecessor: I. M. Kadri
Successor: Subir Kumar Choudhury
Term: 1995–1996

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Born in Bombay in a middle class Marathi family, Gavaskar was named India's Best Schoolboy Cricketer in 1966 while at St Xavier's High School.^[3] He captained India to nine victories and eight losses, with 30 draws, and Kapil Dev emerged as a leading pace bowler under his captaincy.^[4] Gavaskar made his Test debut in March 1971 versus the West Indies at Port of Spain, contributing 65 and an unbeaten 67 to secure India's first victory against that opponent.^[5][6] With 774 runs at an average of 154.80 during his debut series, Gavaskar holds the record for the highest aggregate by any player in a first Test series.^[7]

Gavaskar became the first Indian cricketer to exceed 700 runs in a single Test series, and as of the evidence, he is still the only Indian to have accomplished this.^[7] His skill against fast bowling earned him widespread praise, particularly his average of 65.45 when facing the West Indies.^[8]

What the cited sources add

On the 50th anniversary of his Test debut, Gavaskar said he felt "very blessed, very fortunate" to have represented India.^[6] Gavaskar recalled that he used to bat bareheaded from school level during his debut.^[6] A 2023 Sportstar piece notes that Gavaskar spoke about his strong connection with the sporting community of that city and his relationship with footballer Chuni Goswami.^[9] Gavaskar admitted he played a part in preventing Goswami from scoring another Ranji century, after a senior teammate urged him not to signal a catch.^[9]

References

Wikipedia, "Sunil Gavaskar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Das Sharma, "I denied him a Ranji century: Gavaskar remembers football legend Chuni Goswami", sportstar.thehindu.com, 15 April 2023 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Sunil Gavaskar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Padma Awards", Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, 2015; Cricinfo, "ICC and FICA launch Cricket Hall of Fame", ESPNcricinfo, 2 January 2009; "BCCI names Gavaskar for CK Nayudu award", Wisden India, 25 October 2012; "Gavaskar conferred with CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award", The Times of India (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Sunil Gavaskar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "St Xavier's kicks off 150th anniversary with star alumni", Vinamrata Borwankar, 7 January 2018; "140 years on, St Xavier's school keeps history alive", Hindustan Times, 31 January 2010 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Sunil Gavaskar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Sunil Gavaskar Biography, Achievements, Career Info, Records & Stats – Sportskeeda", Sportskeeda.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Sunil Gavaskar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Karhadkar, "Sunil Gavaskar Test debut on this day 50 years ago", Sportstar, 6 March 2021; Karhadkar, "Sunil Gavaskar Test debut on this day 50 years ago", Sportstar, 6 March 2021 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Karhadkar, "Sunil Gavaskar Test debut on this day 50 years ago", Sportstar, 6 March 2021. facts only, no text reused. sportstar.thehindu.com
Wikipedia, "Sunil Gavaskar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Test matches – Batting records – Most runs in a series", Cricinfo; Armstrong, "ESPN Legends of Cricket", Allen & Unwin, 2002; Lokapally, "A legend in two lands", Sportstar, 11–17 May 2002; Biswas, "Leader Article: Calypso Rules", The Times of India, 16 June 2007 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Sunil Gavaskar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Growing up with Sunil Gavaskar: Man, Milestone and Myth", Cricket Country, 2016-07-10 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Das Sharma, "I denied him a Ranji century: Gavaskar remembers football legend Chuni Goswami", sportstar.thehindu.com, 15 April 2023. facts only, no text reused. sportstar.thehindu.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Sunil Gavaskar (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.