In Pics: 50 Years of Sunil Gavaskar’s historic Test debut vs West Indies in 1971

Updated: March 6, 2021 1:17:45 pm

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On March 6, 1971: 21 years old Sunil Gavaskar made his Test debut against mighty West Indies. Gavaskar made an instant impact in international cricket in the 1971 series, scoring record 774 runs with three centuries and one double century. This 1971 series is a landmark series in Indian cricket, as they beat West Indies at home for the first time, registering a 1-0 series win. (Express Archive)

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In Test cricket, Gavaskar’s right-arm medium was called upon to open the bowling four times but he never picked up any wicket while heading the bowling attack. By the end of his career, Gavaskar conceded 206 runs for a sole wicket of Zaheer Abbas. (Express Archive)

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Sunil Gavaskar, who made 65. 67*. 116. 64. 1. 117*. 124 and 220 in his debut series, was so overwhelmed by the behaviour of one of the players in the opposition side – Rohan Kanhai – that it “was a no-brainer” to name his son after him, said the former India great. Gavaskar’s son Rohan, born in 1976, is also a former India cricketer, having played 11 ODIs in the early 2000s. (Express Archive)

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Sunil Gavaskar was the first batsman to cross the 10,000 runs milestone in Tests. He finished with 10,122 runs in 125 Tests with 34 hundreds and 3092 ODi runs from 108 games. (Express Archive)

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Tennis player Vijay Amritraj and Cricketer Sunil Gavaskar in Mumbai in 1993. (Express archive)

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India, then led by late Ajit Wadekar won the series in West Indies 1-0 and then also clinched the series in England within a space of few months. Later in 1980, Sunil Gavaskar received the Padma Bhushan award from the President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy in Delhi. (Express archive )

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The star cricketer Gavaskar also attracted some offers from the Bollywood as he made his appearance on the 70 mm screen, alongside playing for the Indian cricket team. The former Indian opener starred in a Marathi movie Savli Premachi. He also did a cameo in Naseeruddin Shah’s 1988 film Malaamaal. (Express Archive)

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On the 50th anniversary of Gavaskar's iconic Test debut against the West Indies, legendary Tendulkar took to twitter paying glowing tributes to his role model. "50 years ago on this day he took the Cricketing World by storm. He scored 774 runs in his debut series and each one of us growing up had a hero to look up to," Tendulkar tweeted. "India won the series in the West Indies and then in England and all of sudden the sport in India had a new meaning. As a young boy, I knew I had someone to look up to and try and be like him. That has never changed. He remains my hero. Wish you a happy 50th in international cricket Gavaskar. (FILE)