By Satya Narayan Misra* in Bhubaneswar, July 12, 2026: In the pantheon of best of batsmen in test cricket in the world, four Indians clearly have a pride of place; Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli. Sunil gave Indian cricket its spine and self-belief, Sachin an all-time halo, Dravid an incredible solidity and Kohli an incomparable energy and insouciance.

Javed Miandad believes that Sunil was a touch better than Sachin, the way he handled the dreaded pace quartet of West Indies in the 70s & 80s, or of Imran & Sarfraz, sans the helmet. In terms of stance, grip, footwork, balance and stroke selection he brought in memories of Don Bradman, whose record of 29 centuries, he was the first to break. Gavaskar was like eternity at the crease, the classist who could segue from an immaculate straight drive off Thomson’s thunderbolt in 1977 to a pugnacious hook off Marshall in 183 to a languid late flick off his legs to a wily Qadir in 1987. He was that old-fashioned fixed deposit in a reputed nationalized bank! Money was safe and hope was forever as long as he was there. With his colourful attire, he is a big draw with the youngsters, the way he can mimic Javed Miandad or swing his hips when India snatches a win .

The Classicist

A straight bat with superb balance, and steely resolve, he was one of the few along with Vivian Richards, who batted without a helmet against the barrage of short-pitched bowling of the pace quartet of West Indies, or speed merchants of Pakistan or Australia for two decades in the 70s &80s. Though he did experiment with a skull cap briefly towards the twilight of his career, the recurring image about him is the floppy hat and the languid walk to the crease with a bat seemingly broad enough to guard a fortress! Despite his lack of height- fractionally less than 5 feet 5 inches- he used the crease in masterly fashion, his quick foot work enabling him virtually to create length for himself. His bias was for the front of the wicket, from the cover round to midwicket; but at need, he had all the strokes, including the hook.

His Record in England

While his record against all teams, particularly against West Indies with an average of 65.4, has been remarkable, England was not been his sweet spot till he scored a spectacular 221 at the Oval in 1979 and almost won the match for India. Set to win 383 in 498 minutes, they failed by nine runs. John Arlott, the famous cricket writer writes in his book Greatest Batsmen “Gavaskar’s effort, though, remains a peak of cricket history”. Richie Benaud, who was commentating, called it as ‘the greatest innings he has seen at Oval’.

Gavaskar does not have very many happy memories of the iconic Lord’s ground. A towering John Snow once shoved tiny Sunil at Lords in 1971. As if to avenge the ignominy, he scored a magnificent 188 at Lords against the MCC in 1987. In his World XI squad Dickie Bird, the most charismatic umpire the game has seen, includes Sunil Gavaskar to be the opening partner to Barry Richards. Dickie writes in his Autobiography: Gavaskar was a tremendous player off both back and front foot and capable of plying magnificent shots all round the wicket. The very fact a Yorkshire guy has preferred Gavaskar over Boycott, a fellow Yorkshire guy, speaksvolumes about his excellent right-hand opening bat’s ability.

My First Glimpse of Gavaskar

He was like a God to me, with his exploits in the West Indies in 1971, and was eager to see how faced the English bowlers in at Feroze Shah Kota in 1976, my first match. When Bob Willis with his long wiry legs ran in to him almost from the boundary line, it was a frightening sight in the haze of Delhi winter. He missed the first outswinger and the second and third thudded in to his pads. The umpire ruled him not out. My heart sank, till he drove the fourth ball to the extra cover boundary before any fielder could move. The crowd almost came out of the deep freeze of doubt in a paroxysm of joy.

His Final Innings

The innings that will mark him out was his 96 at Chinnaswamy stadium in 1987 against Pakistan on crumbling wicket with Tauseef and Iqbal Qasim turning the ball square .Gavaskar hit an immaculate ondrive when one could see a puff of dust at the wicket after he hadfinished playing the stroke. The Pakistani commentator Chisty Mujhid remarked that no other batsman could have played that stroke. He was out when a ball from Qasim not only spun and bounced to take his glove. This was his last test innings and a lesson how to bat on a spiteful turning wicket with inconsistent bounce. Possibly Brian Lara could come close to that quality of boatmanship on a turning track.

His Legacy

Gavaskar along with Dravid, Sachin and Viraat are the technically most compact world class players that India has produced.But he could be , however , be pathetically slow in one day cricket as he trundled along to score 36 not out off 174 balls during India’s opening match against England in World Cup 1975. He also did not contribute to India’s win in World Cup 1983. He could be childishly petulant, when he tried to take Chetan Chauhan out of the field when he was declared LBW to Lilee in Melbourne in 1981. Lilee got the better of him in Rest of the World Series 1971 and again a decade later in Australia. Like all great men, he had a feet of clay spasmodically.

Yet, with all his warts and moles, Sunil remains India’s best opening bat, a lovable commentator, and fountain of anecdotes and raconteur par excellence and remains ageless. One remembers the iconic advertisement featuring Sunil and Imran, sipping Thumps Up with the tagline “Brave players show their true colours even in drinking”. He was really brave, both against tear away speedsters and wily spinners. And an inspiration for generations of batsmen.

• Mr Misra is a cricket buff