OTD: Little Master of Indian Cricket Sunil Gavaskar was born in 1949

On this day (July 10, 1949), the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, one of the best openers the cricket world ever witnessed, was born. His techniques, skill, compassion, and concentration on the field still today have no match.

The Mumbai-born genius made himself supreme in the art of defense. When the entire cricket universe feared to take on a prime West Indies, Gavaskar, 5 ft 5 in, without any sign of hesitation on his face, tackled the golden generation of West Indies. Bowlers like Gary Sobers, Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, and Michael Holding delivered with pace and bounce, but Gavaskar replied with a straight bat. His cricketing shots were like they were fresh out of the pages of cricket textbooks.

Nowadays, cricket fans can only imagine how he used to bat against the best without a helmet throughout his entire career. In many interviews and podcasts, Gavaskar recalled those days facing the West Indies with minimal protective gear. Gavaskar, who is known as the 'Little Master,' often found his peak against the West Indies.

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Gavaskar's love for West Indies 

His unbeaten 236 came against WI in Chennai in 1983; against England in 1979, the right-hander got 221, and another double hundred—220—was against the West Indies in 1971. Gavaskar's debut series for India was absolutely sensational. Against the West Indies in 1970-71, Sunil bagged four tests, four centuries, and 774 runs at an average of 154.

His love for the Caribbean was unmatchable. During his entire career, the batting icon made seven hundreds and averaged over 70 in 13 tests. Gavaskar played a total of 125 Tests for India to score a total of 10,122 with a batting average of 51.12, including thirty-four 100s.