10 things you should know about Gundappa Viswanath

Gundappa Vishwanath

Very few batsmen have shown their wizardry with the willow, the way Gundappa Viswanath has. He emphasized timing rather than power and his elegant square cuts and wristy shots translated into poetry at the crease.

Making his debut in 1969 against Australia, he went on to play 91 Test matches, scoring 6080 runs for India. If anyone could come close to his artistry, it was the Hyderabadi duo of Mohd. Azharuddin and VVS Laxman.

Even though for almost his entire career, he was shadowed by Sunil Gavaskar, ‘Vishy’ as he is affectionately called remains one of the most admired Indian cricketers of all times.

Here are ten facts you need to know about Vishwanath.

1. Double century on Ranji debut

Indian cricket writers who followed domestic cricket in the 60s, had already hallelujah-ed Vishy as the next batting prospect for India. The right-handed batsman made his Ranji Trophy debut for Karnataka in 1967 memorable by scoring a double century.

2. 0 and 100 on Test debut

The Karnataka batsman started his career with a duck but shut his critics in the very next innings with a knock of 137, which included 25 boundaries against Australia at Kanpur in 1969. He thus became the first cricketer to score a duck and a century on Test match. Only Andrew Hudson and Mohammad Wasim have repeated the feat since then.

3. India never lost when he scored a 100

His first Test match ended in a draw, but he hit 13 more centuries after his debut match and India won every single of those 13 matches.

4. Stint as skipper

The little master from Karnataka also had a brief fling with captaincy as he captained India in two tests during the period of 1979–80. The first Test was drawn while, in the second Test, which was the Golden jubilee Test against England, India lost.

5. Fair play

In the Golden Jubilee Test match against England, Vishy being the skipper recalled English batsman Bob Taylor to the crease when he felt that the umpire had given a wrong decision. This may have cost India the match as Taylor went on to scoring some crucial runs, but to Vishy the spirit of the game, and the sense of fair play was more important than winning the match.

He is known to have voluntarily left his spot in the playing XI to give a chance to the youngsters sitting on the bench.

6. Melbourne to Madras

Vishy produced two of his most memorable performances late on in his career. In India’s 1978 tour of Australia, he delivered a gem of a performance at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, hitting a knock of 114 against the likes of Dennis Lillee. On the familiar turf back home, during England’s tour of India in 1981-82, he amassed a career-best knock of 222 runs in Madras.

7. Relationship with Gavaskar

During the decade of the 1970s, the entire cricket fan base of India was polarised in two factions - Team Sunil Gavaskar and Team Gundappa Vishwanath. Even though the debate on who the better batsman is has never ceased, both of them managed to remain the best of friends throughout their careers. He even married Sunil’s sister Kavita.

Sunil named his son Rohan Jaivishwa after 3 of his favourite players – West Indian captain Rohan Kanhai, M.L Jaisimha and Vishwanath.

Vishwanath receiving the CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement in 2009 from Sunil Gavaskar

8. CK Nayudu award

The right-handed batting maestro was awarded the CK Nayudu Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2009, which is the highest honour in Indian cricket.

9. Being featured in the Wisden Top 100

In the Indian cricketing folklore, Gundappa Vishwanath is most remembered for his heroic 97 not against West Indies at Chepauk in 1974-75, when the entire batting order was bundled out for 190 against a fearsome bowling attack that included the likes of Andy Robert. His match-winning innings was listed as the 38th best innings of all times by Wisden in their top 100, and the 2nd best non-century.

10. Second Innings

Post retirement, Vishy continued to be associated with the game post-retirement, donning several hats – being an ICC referee, chairman of the national selection committee, manager of the Indian cricket team and even coaching at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).