Stats: Sunil Gavaskar's career records and numbers

Sunil Gavaskar has a special place for himself in cricket history as he held various batting records in the longest format of the game until the 20th century before various players surpassed him. The former Indian opening batsman was well known for his fabulous batting and registered a lot of records during the 1970s and 1980s the era where many devastating bowlers dominated the roost.

On occasion of his 68th birthday, we look at some of his career records and stats.

1 – Sunil Gavaskar was the first player in Test history to score 10,000 runs. He completed the milestone on 7th March 1987 against Pakistan at Ahmedabad.

3 – Number of times Gavaskar has scored centuries in both innings of a Test match; only Ricky Ponting and David Warner have achieved this feat so far.

11 – He has scored 11 centuries in Test cricket as a captain; the most by any Indian player as captain. Mohammad Azharuddin and Virat Kohli have scored 9 centuries each as Indian Test captain.

13 years 110 days – Gavaskar scored his maiden ODI century 13 years after his debut; the longest span between a player’s debut and maiden ODI hundred.

18 – Number of consecutive Test matches Team India remained unbeaten between 1976 and 1980 under Sunil Gavaskar’s captaincy; the longest undefeated streak for India in Test cricket under a captain till Kohli produced a 19-match streak recently.

20.68 – His strike-rate in the 1975 World Cup game against England where he scored 36* off 174; the lowest for any player in an ODI innings. (Min: 100 balls)

34 – He has scored 34 centuries in Test cricket; the joint 6th most by any player. He held the record for the most Test centuries till Sachin Tendulkar broke it in 2004.

774 – He scored 774 runs in his debut Test series in 1971 against West Indies; the most by any player in their debut Test series. West Indies’ George Headley scored 703 runs in 1930 series against England while making his debut. His tally is also the most by any Indian in a Test series.

9607 – Runs Gavaskar has scored in Test cricket as an opener; the 2nd most by any player in this format as an opening batsman. Alastair Cook has scored over 10000 Test runs as an opener.

10122 – Gavaskar’s tally of 10122 in Test cricket is surpassed by 11 players. Overall, 12 players have complete 10000 Test runs after him.