Many records in Sunny’s 100 in-a-row career

By A. C. de Silva

CRICKET: Sunil Manohar Gavaskar - the star Indian batsman and former skipper, has finally decided to lay off after an eight-year stint of being the chairman of ICC Cricket Committee. He will now be free to devote his time in his fond past time of giving cricket commentaries.

Gavaskar who turned 59 on July 10th is a much respected commentator and having played the game at the highest level, can concentrate with his flowing comments on play in the Test matches.

He retired from cricket in 1987 as the most prolific batsman in Test history with 10,122 runs and 34 centuries and was India’s captain on and off from 1978 to 1986.

He is off active cricket after some glorious displays both in India and right round the globe. There are many records that came his way and one such record is his batting that helped him to become the first batsman in the world to play 100 Tests in-a-row when he played at Madras on September 18, 1986 against Australia in the first Test of the 1986 series.

In that memorable game, Gavaskar made eight in the first essay and missed the century in the second knock by 10 runs. That was not the end, on March 7th 1987, at Ahmedabad in the fourth test against Pakistan he reached 10,000 runs.

He made his Test debut against the West Indies in Trinidad in 1970-71 series and played 16 Tests in-a-row, till an injury kept him out after the Bangalore Test against the West Indies in 1974-75 (it was the first time a Test match was played at Bangalore).

He played in the final Test at Bombay, missing three Tests, at Delhi, Calcutta and Madras. From Bombay 1974-75 (versus Windies) at Madras 1986-87 (versus Aussies), Gavaskar has made history.

In the 100 Tests he has played consecutively, he aggregated 8,092 runs in 171 innings, 12 times being not out. His highest score of 236 not out was made against the West Indies at Madras in 1983-84.

Records galore

Ever since Gavaskar left Geoff Boycott (in terms of runs) and the late Sir Donald Bradman (in terms of centuries) behind, whatever he achieved has been a record. All figures are not records in a strict sense.

But Gavaskar achieved three remarkable feats which will stand in his name for a reasonable length of time even if one were to go by the cliche “records are there to be broken”. 10,122 Test runs, 34 centuries and 125 Test appearences, 106 on a trot.

If his 10,000 plus tally convey Gavaskar’s appetite for runs, his number of appearences clearly reflects the physical shape and the mental alertness of the man. Cricket is not a game of numbers alone.

Not all great cricketers had had their greatness reflected figures but any outstanding cricket is measured, to a large extent, by the runs he made, wickets he took, catches he held or by the manner of his captaincy. And Gavaskar and records are synonymous. Here is a sample (records, feats, unique achievements etc:

* His 10,122 runs is the highest individual tally of runs in Tests.

* He holds the record for highest number of centuries in Tests - 34.

* Gavaskar’s 78 instances of scoring over 50 in a Test (34 hundreds plus 44 other scores of over 50) is the highest number of scores of over 50 by any batsman in Test cricket.

* The highest number of Test appearences - 125 is credited against the name of Gavaskar.

His appearence in 106 Tests on a trot is another distinguished landmark in the annals of cricket. After appearing against West Indies at Bombay in the 1974-75 series Gavaskar played 106 successive Tests, a sequence that was broken when Gavaskar ruled himself out of the team against Pakistan at Calcutta in 1987.

Thrice, Gavaskar performed the feat of scoring a century in each innings of a Test. No other batsman has achieved this. He made 124 and 220 (West Indies, Port of Spain, 1970-71); 111 and 137 (Pakistan, Karachi, 1978-79) and 107 and 182 not out (West Indies, Calcutta, 1978-79).

Rare feat

On five occasions, Gavaskar was the top scorer in either innings of a Test match. This is a rare feat: 124 and 220 (West Indies, Port of Spain, 1970-71); 101 and 58 (England, Manchester, 1974); 38 and 71 (England, New Delhi, 1976-77), 39 and 24 (England, Madras, 1976-77) and 111 and 137 (Pakistan, Karachi, 1978-79).

And then the opening batsman’s dream - carrying the bat through. Gavaskar has performed this too. He remained unbeaten on 127 against Pakistan (3rd Test) at Faisalabad in 1982-83. He is the only Indian to achieve this feat.

Gavaskar is in the select band of seven players who held more than 100 catches in Tests (other than keepers). Gavaskar’s tally is 108 catches from 125 Tests. The others are: Greg Chappell of Australia (122 catches from 87 Tests); Colin Cowdrey of England (120 catches from 114 Tests); Walter Hammond of England (110 catches from 85 Tests): Bobby Simpson of Australia (110 catches from 62 Tests): Sir Garfield Sobers of West Indies (109 catches from 93 Tests) and Ian Chappell of Australia (105 catches from 75 Tests). Gavaskar’s mode of dismissal in Tests: Total dismissals: 198, caught:142; Bowled; 33; Ibw: 17; run out: 4 and stumped: 2.

Many partnerships

On 58 occasions, Gavaskar was involved in partnerships of 100 or more in Tests. This is a record. The batsmen with whom he had been associated in century partnerships are as follows: Chetan Chuhan (11 times), Dilip Vengsarkar and Mohinder Amaranath (10 each), G. R. Visvanath and A. D. Gaekad (4 each); K. Srikkanth (Thrice), Farrok Engineer, Brijesh Patel, Yaspal and Arun Lal (two each), Ashok Mankad, Eknath Selkar, Ajit Wadekar, Dilip Sardesai, Ravi Shastri, Syed Kirmani, Surinder Amarnath and Mohammad Azharuddin (one each).

Gavaskar as Test captain: 38 Tests, 7 (won), 9 (lost) and 22 (drawn).

Of the 34 Test hundreds Gavaskar made his highest: 236 not out (against West Indies at Madras, 1983), was made while batting at No. 4. But when he walked out to bat, the Indian scoreboard read zero for two and the ball was still new. That knock of Gavaskar’s is the highest individual score for India in Tests. The only feat that was eluding this great player became a reality in India’s penultimate match in the Reliance Cup, against New Zealand at Nagpur on October 31 in 1987.

Gavaskar scored his first hundred in one-dayers and what a hundred it turned out to be. He made an unbeaten 103 from mere 85 balls. In the inaugural World Cup in 1985, Gavaskar occupied the crease for the full length of 60 overs and finished with an unbeaten 36 against England. It was a knock which directed universal criticism at him. In the course of that scintillating display at Nagpur, Gavaskar completed 3,000 runs in one-day internationals, a feat that almost went unnoticed. No other Indian has 3,000.

Gavaskar has figures in 46 three