Sunil Gavaskar
One of the greatest opening batsmen of all time, and the first to reach 10,000 runs as well as 30 Test centuries, Sunil Gavaskar had a particular liking for the West Indian pacers, one of the most dreaded bowlers of their time. The diminutive batsman’s debut series was in the Caribbean, and he stamped his authority all over their bowling attack, scoring 65 and an unbeaten 67 in the second Test, and following it up with scores of 116,117,124 and 220, also becoming the first batsman since Doug Walters to score a century and double century in the same Test. He aggregated a mammoth 774 runs on the tour. So much for debut series jitters!
The Little Master played just one match each against them in 1974 and 1975, but was back to his elements in 1976, scoring two more hundreds and aggregating 390 runs in 4 Tests. He followed it up with another prolific series in 1978, notching up three hundreds, including a 205 at his home ground in Mumbai. The last Test saw him score 107 and 182 not out at Eden Gardens. He scored another century in the year next to that, this time at Delhi.
His final series against them was in 1983, against a bowling attack made up of Marshall, Roberts and Holding. He made it count with an unbeaten 236 at Chennai, which stood as the highest Test score by an Indian until Laxman’s 281 in 2001.
Overall figures against West Indies: Matches: 27, Runs: 2479, Average: 65.45, 100s: 13, Best: 236*
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