Sunil Gavaskar, A Legend That The Millennial In Me Will Always Cherish And Glorify

I first caught a glimpse of Sunil Gavaskar on television when I was 13. It was archival footage of him batting against the West Indies. Although very short in stature compared to the tall bowlers he came up against, Gavaskar didn't look fazed at all. He guarded his wicket with authority and he just dominated the bowlers, hitting it all across the park. It was pure magic at work.

Gavaskar plied his trade as a cricketer much before I was born, but I can imagine him smashing the deadly pace battery of the 1970s and 1980s. What a sight it must have been to watch live specially against the most lethal bowling attack in the world - Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Andy Roberts and Dennis Lillee, bowlers have been considered a batsman's nightmare.

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Yet, an unassuming kid from Mumbai - barely matching the towering figures world class bowlers, remained undeterred, with eyes firmly focusing on the ball, showing no qualms whatsoever without a helmet. Sunil Gavaskar is one of the greatest batsman that the game of cricket has ever seen. His 16 year long career was synonymous with sheer guts, confidence, perseverance, leadership, success, and truckloads of runs.

This glorious sporting story, however has a very filmy beginning, with a twist. Gavaskar was almost switched at birth with a fisherwoman's baby. Gavaskar recalls in his autobiography, Sunny Days, "I may never have become a cricketer and this book would certainly not have been written, if an eagle-eyed relation, Narayan Masurekar, had not come into my life the day I was born (July 10, 1949)."

He further continued, "It seems that Nan-Kaka (as I called him), who had come to see me at the hospital on my first day in this world, noticed a little hole near the top of my left earlobe. The next day he visited again and picked up the baby lying in the crib next to my mother. To his utter horror, he discovered that the baby did not have the hole on the left earlobe. A frantic search of all the cribs in the hospital followed, and I was eventually located sleeping blissfully beside a fisherwoman, totally oblivious of the commotion I had caused! The mix-up, it appears, followed after the babies had been given their baths," he said.

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Isn't that a compelling tale, and it had a great conclusion - Sunil Gavaskar went on to carve a path to become one of the most revered batsman of his generation.

His success story kick started with a smashing debut, his first match for India in 1971, he showed character and resistance and went on to score half-centuries in both innings of the Test, also scoring the winning runs to give India their first-ever win over the West Indies. His debut innings was a testament of his great potential to stand his ground against the ¡®bodyline bowling¡¯. Bodyline bowling is dangerous -- bowlers running in and attacking you with the balls almost hitting the batsmen, physically harming them -- but Gavaskar always found a way to dig his heels in and not get run over easily.

After his debut heroics in the first match, he promptly followed it up with his first century, a snappy 116 and 64* in the third Test in Georgetown. The fearsome West Indies pace attack of Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Andy Roberts, had no answer to the class of Gavaskar. He kept piling on the runs throughout the series and ended with an aggregate of 774 runs at 154.80 in his debut series. What a way to introduce yourself on the big stage.

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The measure of your quality as a batsman in that era was known by how good you were against pace bowlers. No protective head-gear, no restrictions on the number of bouncers, and balls whizzing past your face at blinding pace, it was arguably the toughest time to bat.

Sunil Gavaskar had an answer to everything. His technique and great footwork was a treat to watch. He was equally good on both sides of the wicket - off side and leg side. After a dream first series, Gavaskar crafted his way to become a high quality batsman.

Wherever India went on tour, Gavaskar was always raking up the runs. The onus as an opener was always on him to play out the new ball and build a platform for the latter batsmen to capitalise on it. He did a terrific job at that - he was always watchful at the start and used to dispatch the bad deliveries, and grind his way to scoring big runs.

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In a career that spanned 16 years, Sunil Gavaskar achieved some remarkable feats. He hit an astonishing 34 centuries in Tests, a record that stood for almost two decades. He also was the first person to score centuries in both innings of a Test match three times. Late in his time as a cricketer, he became the first Test batsman to score 10,000 runs.

Gavaskar was widely admired for his technique against fast bowling, with a particularly high average of 65.45 against the West Indies, who possessed a four-pronged fast bowling attack regarded as the most vicious in Test history.

Being one of the most renowned players of his time, the stardom never really got to him. He always carries himself with great humility and till date goes about his business with simplicity. He is respected across the world and revered as a sporting hero. He has always worn his fame lightly, and just like brushing aside those fast paced balls, he has not been bothered by bad press or outrages in his career. One of the best batsman in history, Sunil Gavaskar is a legend who dominated an era of lightning fast bowlers with ease. The magic still remains.