Five interesting incidents Sunil Gavaskar came across on the cricket field

Sunil Gavaskar was one of the stereotypical batsmen when it came to India’s rich cricket history which gradually raised from the 1970s only to become a powerhouse as of today. Gavaskar was the path-breaking figure to Test cricket of his times who swept batting records only to be broken by Sachin Tendulkar, his junior Mumbaikar. On occasion of Sunil Gavaskar’s 69th birthday, we look at some of the interesting incidents he came across on the cricket field.

Century with torn tourers:

India began their 1974 tour of England with the Test match in Old Trafford and the hosts made a good start posting 328/9 in their first innings. In response, Indian batsmen crumbled except Sunil Gavaskar who helped them to avoid the follow-on with a century. The opener was run out scoring 101 after he added a crucial 75-run stand with the No.9 batsman S Abid Ali who scored 71.

India made 246 in their first innings but ended up on losing side as they were bowled out for only 182 in the 2nd innings chasing 296 to win. During the 3rd day’s play, Gavaskar got his trousers torn but decided to continue till he reached his century and got out. Thus, he remained probably the only player to score a Test hundred with torn trousers.

A reminder for the record:

After losing six straight matches to the touring Windies (5 ODIs and 1 Test), India took on them in the 2nd Test in Delhi. They elected to bat first after winning the toss only to witness an unlike Gavaskar innings in the first session. The opener blasted the Windies pacers to bring up his century in just 37 balls. He needed 57 more balls for his second fifty as he reached his 29th Test century in 94 balls with 13 fours and a six.

With this century, Gavaskar became the first player to level Sir Donald Bradman’s record of 29 Test tons. The interesting part was Gavaskar not aware of reaching the milestone. In the flow he was scoring, he was looking to strike few more boundaries before his partner Dilip Vengsarkar came to him for shaking his hand and reminded him of the record saying, “Bloody hell, it’s your 29th!”.

Caught behind on zero but scored 36 off 174:

One of the first things one remembers about Sunil Gavaskar is his remarkable slow knock in the World Cup game where he scored an unbeaten 36 off 174 chasing England’s total of 334/4. The reason of him going into a shield was to avoid a batting collapse and to have a practice in the middle as the target was too big for the Indians.

Gavaskar claims that he felt like moving away from stumps to get out during that innings. In fact, according to himself, he was caught behind on the very second ball of the innings but no one on the field appealed. Gavaskar tried to flash hard at John Snow’s delivery and got a thin edge but no one including the keeper Alan Knott heard or appealed for a caught behind.

Zero on the board wherever he batted:

After losing the 1983 World Cup final, Windes made a successful tour of India in the same year winning the 5-match ODI series 5-0 and the 6-match Test series by 3-0 margin. The tour was set for a conclusion in Chennai which hosted the 6th Test after the visitors leading the series by 3-0. Contributions from every batsman saw the Caribbean side posting 313 in the first innings after winning the toss in the Test that had a washed out day one.

The Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar had a modest of series scoring only 269 runs in the 10 innings with one century, one fifty and two ducks. Gavaskar decided to bat at No.4 to reduce the pressure of runs on him. However, Malcolm Marshall struck twice in two balls to dismiss Anshuman Gaekwad and Dilip Vengsarkar. This meant Gavaskar had to walk out with his team reeling at 0/2.

Vivian Richards welcomed Gavaskar to the crease saying, “Man, it doesn’t matter where you come in to bat, the score is still zero.” Though the runs on the scoreboard didn’t change for India, the change in position seemed to be worked out for Gavaskar as he went on to score an unbeaten 236, his highest Test score and was named the man of the match in the Test that ended in a draw.

Umpire opens Gavaskar’s Test account:

Sunil Gavaskar made his debut during the 2nd Test match in 1971 at the Port of Spain against the Windies. He opened the innings along with Ashok Mankad for the last 30 minutes of the first day’s play after the Indian spinners ran through the hosts bowling them out for only 214 runs on a turning track. Gavaskar flicked a delivery of Vanburn Holder down the leg which hit his pad and raced towards the fine-leg region.

The debutant ran a couple on that shot and open his account as the umpire signalled it runs instead of leg-byes. Thus, Gavaskar got off the mark in Test cricket in a dramatic way. This helped him to take out the pressure of getting off the mark at the big stage. He went on to score 65 in the first innings as India took a 138-run lead. Gavaskar scored an unbeaten 67 during the 124-run chase of 124 to help India register their maiden win over the Caribbean side by seven wickets.