2. Sunil Gavaskar
Profile
Full name: Sunil Manohar Gavaskar
Born: July 10, 1949, Bombay (now Mumbai), Maharashtra
Current age: 64 years 141 days
Major teams: India, Mumbai, Somerset
Batting style: Right-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm medium, Right-arm offbreak
Height: 5 ft 5 in
Education: St Xavier’s College; Bombay University
Sunil Gavaskar was the first to get 10,000 Test runs and 30 centuries. India’s lynchpin of the 70s and 80s, and arguably their first great batsman, he was known for his immaculate defence but was equally at ease hooking and pulling the most fearsome bowlers of all time.
Gavaskar was one of the greatest opening batsmen of all time, and certainly the most successful. His game was built around a near-perfect technique and enormous powers of concentration.
It is hard to visualise a more beautiful defence: virtually unbreachable, it made his wicket among the hardest to earn.
He played with equal felicity off both front and back feet, had excellent judgement of length and line, and was beautifully balanced.
Watch Sunil Gavaskar make 172 against Australia at the SCG in 1985-86.
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