Reviving the top four golden moments from Sunil Gavaskar's career on his birthday

#4 Gavaskar scores a memorable 221 against England at the Oval, 1979 August 30 - September 4

Gavaskar in all his glory

In the fourth and last Test against England at the Oval, England batted first and posted 305 runs, thanks to the likes of Graham Gooch. India could muster only 202 in return, and by the time the English concluded their second innings at 334/8 decl., India needed 438 runs to win.

No other team had managed a win with such a high target to acquire, previously, and all hopes were on Gavaskar, who was the chief architect of the win against Windies three years earlier when the target was 403.

He promptly responded, tackling the British bowling fair and square, on his way to a memorable 221.

However, wickets fell at regular intervals on the other end, and soon enough, India was 424/8 needing 15 with two wickets in hand in the last over. With just five runs scored out of it, India settled for the draw, destroying hopes of a record-breaking run chase. Gavaskar was, however, the man of the moment, whose gritty innings almost resulted in a grand victory.

Results were no different in 1979 when India toured England yet again, 1979. After performing very dismally against the likes of West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka, losing Test matches against all of them, India played England and the result was not different by the end of the first game. It was a season worth forgetting for the team.

However, they saved their best for the last, when they came agonisingly close to pulling off what would have been one of the great Test run chases in history.

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