Sunil Gavaskar, Indian cricketer and sportscaster
Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: [suniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ]; pronunciation ; born 10 July 1949), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer who represented India and Bombay from 1971 to 1987. Gavaskar is acknowledged as one of the greatest opening batsmen of all time.
Gavaskar was widely admired for his technique against fast bowling, with a particularly high average of 65.45 against the West Indies cricket team, who possessed a four-pronged fast bowling attack regarded as the most vicious in Test history. However, most of Gavaskar's centuries against West Indies were against their second string team when their four-pronged attack were not playing.
His captaincy of the Indian team, however, was less successful. Turbulent performances of the team led to multiple exchanges of captaincy between Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, with one of Gavaskar's sackings coming just six months before Kapil led India to victory at the 1983 Cricket World Cup. He is also a former Sheriff of Mumbai.
Gavaskar is a recipient of the Indian civilian honours of the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan. He was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2009. In 2012, he was awarded the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for Cricket in India.