Legendary Indian cricketer, Sunil Gavaskar made his Test debut on this day in 1971 against the West Indies. He has been considered one of the finest opening batsmen of all time. On his Test debut’s 50th anniversary, former cricketers and fans flooded Twitter with heartwarming messages for him. Sachin Tendulkar took to Twitter to pay tribute to his idol and said Gavaskar was a cricketer he looked up to during his younger days.
Tweeting about Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar wrote: “50 years ago today, he took the Cricketing World by storm. He scored 774 runs in his debut series and each one of us had a hero to look up to. India won the series in the West Indies and then in England and all of a 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,” Tendulkar tweeted.
A tribute to My Idol! 🏏🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/l6nP89pUQi
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) March 6, 2021
Tendulkar further added, “He remains my hero. Wish you a happy 50th in international cricket Mr. Gavaskar. To everyone of the 1971 team a happy 50th Anniversary. You all made us proud and showed us light.”
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Sunil Gavaskar’s son Rohan tweeted about his father making a debut on Instagram and he captioned the post as: “Another debut !! This time on Instagram.” In his first post on Instagram, Gavaskar shared an old photo and he captioned the post as: “Hello Instagram. I think I am ready for another debut.”
Another debut !! This time on Instagram pic.twitter.com/MuYNQu3UDM
— Rohan Gavaskar (@rohangava9) March 6, 2021
The BCCI also felicitated Sunil Gavaskar for his enormous contribution to Indian cricket as BCCI secretary honored the batting great during the lunch break on day three of the ongoing fourth Test between India and England.
Celebrating 5️⃣0️⃣ glorious years of the legendary former #TeamIndia Captain Mr. Sunil Gavaskar's Test debut today 🙌🏻 🇮🇳 @GCAMotera @Paytm pic.twitter.com/XVcTJfqypg
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 6, 2021
Over his career, Gavaskar was known for making a plethora of records, and as he played 125 Tests and 108 ODIs for India. He was also a part of the 1983 World Cup win and 1985 World Championship of Cricket victory.
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Gavaskar scored 10,122 runs in the longest format of the game and he held the record for scoring most centuries in Test cricket till 2005. Sachin Tendulkar ended up breaking this record in 2005. In 108 ODIs, Gavaskar scored 3,092 runs with his highest score being 103 not out.
Ex-India pacer RP Singh also congratulated Gavaskar on the 50th anniversary of his Test debut.
Absolute privilege to share commentary box with #SunilGavaskar .50 years ago, #SunnyBhai made his Test debut and the best thing about the living legend is that he still wants to learn something new from the game. pic.twitter.com/6Od9xchGxq
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) March 6, 2021
