The Little Master

For a generation who grew up in the 1990s, Sunil Gavaskar was always the tidy voice that delivered forthright views, challenged England's doyen of batting Geoff Boycott, amazed the chirpy Harsha Bhogle and shared off-air jokes with former teammate Ravi Shastri.

But before cricket was a regular fixture on television sets in the subcontinent, Gavaskar established himself as cricket's greatest opening batsman and the first true legend of Indian cricket. With his 10,122 runs from 125 Test matches (between 1971 to 1987), he was an institution unto himself, still remaining the highest scoring opener in the game's premier format.

And he did it without wearing a helmet, against the best bowling attacks in the world and playing for a team that depended a lot on him.

Nothing got to Gavaskar; his powers of concentration immense and his technique as solid as they come. His formative years were spent in the maidans of his beloved Bombay where he was taught the nuances of batting by uncle Madhav Mantri; the young Sunny looked up to West Indian batting great Rohan Kanhai as his idol.

It was in Kanhai's islands where Gavaskar made his Test debut and wanting to make a statement of intent on the international scene, the diminutive opener stamped his name in the best possible way.

After two half-centuries on debut, he struck four hundreds in three Tests including 124 and 220 in Port-of-Spain. His 774 runs is the most runs scored in a debut series, one that India won in the West Indies for the first time ever.

Though his next hundred came after three years, he went on to become captain in 1976, marking his first Test as skipper with a century in Auckland. The same year, the Little Master 's 102 powers India to chase down a fourth-innings target of 403 for the loss of just four wickets in Port-of-Spain, an unheard of notion in those days.

In the 1978-79 season, Gavaskar twice did the “double” (scoring hundreds in both Test innings) in the space of three months against Pakistan and West Indies.

His epic 221 at the Oval got India nine runs short of the 438-run target and as the centuries poured in, so did Gavaskar's stock rise.

In due course of time and runs, he became a symbol of his country's ambitions. A proud man, he was prone to the odd fit of anger and his near walkout after being given LBW against Dennis Lillee in 1981 is well-documented (just like his tortoise 36 in the 1975 World Cup opener).

He took 94 balls for his 29th Test hundred to equal Don Bradman in 1983, then became the highest run-getter in Tests a month later and after 45 days, struck his 30th ton.

In 1987, he missed a Test for the first time after 106 Tests, and soon crossed the 10,000 run mark with a tap down the leg-side on March 7 that year.

But he saved the best for last. Against a superb Pakistan bowling attack on a deadly Bangalore pitch, Gavaskar batted masterfully for 96 in a fourth innings chase, that was to be his last-ever Test knock.

It underlined his genius and after his retirement at the age of 38, India went without a proper opener for nearly two decades until another genius began opening the innings.