How does Sunil Gavaskar compare with Don Bradman and how great was he?

[Harsh Thakor]

In terms of cricketing records in test cricket Gavaskar is the best opening batsmen ever,the best batsmen of his era,and argubaly 2nd to only Don Bradman.Many fans could speculate whether even Bradman would have emulated Sunny facing the greatest quicks without a helmet or against deadly spin.Statistically Bradman was in another league but he did not face the calibre of pace bowling. Sunny faced,played against as many countries or bore as great pressure.Bradman would probably have scored at twice Gavaskar's speed but not neccesarily matched Sunny's enduring abilities.Significant that Gavaskar scored many more than Bradman in his debut series in West Indies in 1970-71.Hard envisaging Bradman surpasing Sunny's resolute defence and technical perfection in test cricket's most competitive era.In terms of rate of scoring centuries at his peak Sunny was only 2nd to the Don.


Sunil Gavaskar opened the batting without wearing a helmet and playing for a relatively weaker team broke all the batting records facing great bowlers like Marshal,Roberts,Holding,Imran ,Hadlee,Botham ,Willis etc.Ofcourse he had some luck in the era of WSC packer cricket facing weaker West Indian and Australian attacks but still overall was prolific against the likes of Imran Khan.Sometimes it is hard visualizing Bradman even emulate Gavaskar facing the most lethal bowling without a helmet or equaling Gavasakr's 96 on a broken pitch against Pakistan at Bangalore in 1987.Against brutal pace , mesmerizing spin or on a bad wicket I would give Gavaskar the edge over Bradman by a whisker.In his debut series Gavaskar aggregated a record 774 runs at 154 .80,much better than Bradman's debut.If one makes an equation of the class of bowling faced ,the strength of team played or support from other players,then in test cricket Gavaskar could be more comparable to the Don than Sachin.None of Tendulkar's best test innings feature in the Wisden best 100 while 3 innings of Gavaskar' s do.Tendulkar has not surapssed Gavaskar's 221 at the Oval or 96 at Bangalore.In 4th innings Gavaskar has overshadowed Tendulkar,which is significant.Unlike Tendulkar Gavaskar scored most of his centuries without the aid of a helmet which is remarkable.In an al-time xi still Jack Hobbs or Barry Richards would be favourites because of their ability as match-winners.I can't imagine any batsmen surpassing Sunny's 221 at the Oval and 96 at Bangalore,2 of cricket's masterpieces.Gavaskar has 3 innings selected amongst the Wisden 100 best in test matches while Tendulkar has none.Gavaskar was also an architect of some of India's famous wins like in Port of Spain in arecird 4th innings run chase in 1975-76 and at Madras when India won it's 1st series v Pakistan for 28 years.Dubious umpiring probably cost India a famous win at the Oval in 1979 when Gavaskar scored his epic 221 in a 4th innings run chase of 438 and India fell 9 runs adrift.

What may make batsmen like Viv Richards,Lara,or Tendulkar better candidates for challenging Bradman was that Gavaskar was at times too cautious and arguably ultra-defenisve.Players like Viv ,Sachin or Lara could turn the complexion of games more,being considerably more flamboyant.On bad or fast wickets some rated Gundapa Vishwanath a better player who had a better record in matches won.Sunny also did not play in WSC supertests which took cricketing competitivity to it's supreme zenith and in the Packer era and compiled the bulk of his runs when setting records in the late 1970's against the weaker Australian and Calypso pace attacks.Neverthless he still championed the cause against Imran Khan ,Jeff Thomson,Sylvester Clarke,Ian Botham,Bob Willis and Richard Hadlee ,scoring centuries against all of them.No opening batsmen ever scored centuries against so many great bowlers.In the 1980's he added centuries against super paceman like Marshall and Holding in 1983-84,but lost his overall consistency.The only great paceman against whom Sunny did not have a century was the great Dennis Lillee.Arguably the greatest cricketer ever ranks Sunny as the best batsmen he ever saw while Wasim ranks him harder to dismiss than nay great batsmen he ever bowled to.

I would rank Gavaskar amongst the top20-25 cricketers of all and best ten batsmen of all time.In my view he was a notch below the likes of Sobers,Bradman,Grace ,Warne,Hobbs,Hammond,Tendulkar,Viv,Lara or Imran but would stil rate ahead of Greg Chappell,Denis Compton,Everton Weekes ,George Headley and Alan Border. Mcgrath,Wasim ,Ambrose Lillee,Botham and Kallis would just nose ahead of him by a whisker.Considering only test cricket Gavaskar could well be in the top 6 batsmen of all,arguably nosing tendulkar and Viv.It was virtually a draw between Len Hutton,Barry Richards and Sunny.



Sunil Gavaskar-FROM S.Rajesh

Sunil Gavaskar's Test career Period Tests Runs Average 100s/ 50s
Debut series 4 774 154.80 4/ 3
July 1971 to Jan 1975 13 693 27.72 1/ 6
Feb 1975 to Jan 1980 45 4434 59.91 18/ 16
Feb 1980 to Sep 1985 47 2939 40.81 7/ 14
Oct 1985 onwards 16 1282 58.27 4/ 6
Career 125 10,122 51.12 34/ 45

Despite having played during a period when run-scoring was considerably more difficult than it is today, Gavaskar achieved some incredible numbers, becoming the first to get to 10,000 Test runs and 30 centuries. During the two decades in which he played, only six batsmen scored more than 4000 runs at a 50-plus average.

Top batsmen between Jan 1970 and Dec 1989 (Qual: 4000 runs) Batsman Tests Runs Average 100s/ 50s
Javed Miandad 101 7701 57.04 22/ 36
Greg Chappell 87 7110 53.86 24/ 31
Allan Border 111 8488 53.38 23/ 46
Viv Richards 108 7849 51.98 24/ 37
Sunil Gavaskar 125 10,122 51.12 34/ 45
Geoff Boycott 67 5505 50.50 16/ 29


The other aspect of Gavaskar's career that stood out was his ability to play for long periods, especially in the fourth innings of Tests. Several other top-class batsmen have performed below potential in the last innings of Tests, with Tendulkar being the prime example: in 47 such innings he averages less than 38. But Gavaskar had no such problems, averaging 58.25 in 33 innings, which is second only to Boycott among batsmen who scored at least 1000 fourth-innings runs.

One of the features of Gavaskar's batting - and that of India during the period he played in - was the ability to bat many overs in the last innings. When he scored that 221 at The Oval, India batted 150.5 overs, and there were several other instances when the team batted more than 100 overs. (Click here for a Numbers Game column from July 2007 that compares Gavaskar and Tendulkar in fourth innings; while Gavaskar averaged more than 56 in meaningful fourth innings, Tendulkar only managed an average of less than 27.)

Best Test averages in fourth innings (Qual: 1000 runs) Batsman Innings Runs Average 100s/ 50s
Geoff Boycott 34 1234 58.76 3/ 7
Sunil Gavaskar 33 1398 58.25 4/ 8
Graeme Smith 30 1285 53.54 3/ 8
Gordon Greenidge 38 1383 53.19 3/ 6
Ricky Ponting 38 1311 52.44 4/ 4
Matthew Hayden 39 1287 49.50 1/ 9
Jacques Kallis 41 1212 44.88 1/ 10
Graham Gooch 29 1121 44.84 3/ 5

In fact, Gavaskar was at his most prolific in matches that ended in draws. In the 23 Tests he played that India won, his average was only 43.97, and he scored six hundreds. On the other hand, 22 of his 34 hundreds came in draws, and his average shot up to more than 65 in those matches. Gavaskar remains the only batsman to have scored more than 6000 runs in drawn Tests, with Tendulkar more than 400 runs short of the mark.

Most runs in drawn Tests Batsman Tests Runs Average 100s/ 50s
Sunil Gavaskar 67 6039 65.64 22/ 25
Sachin Tendulkar 67 5563 67.02 19/ 25
Allan Border 59 5084 68.70 16/ 27
Rahul Dravid 53 4979 68.20 16/ 26
Javed Miandad 62 4570

 

[MenInG]

Sunil Gavaskar that I saw play in Karachi 1978 was an immovable object! I cannot imagine any other batsman who could stand up to the very best of all bowlers.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Gavaskar averaged 51 as an opener in tougher era for batting against a plethora of ATG fast bowlers. That is comparable to a middle order batsman averaging 60. Gavaskar is probably the great batsman from Asia.

 

[Cric1234]

The best defensive opening batsman of all time.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

Best opener of all time in tests

 

[Robert]

He would open the batting among the ATG side of players I have actually watched.

With Boycott, he had the tightest defensive technique I have seen.

To have averaged fifty as opener in a time of Snow, Lillee, Thomson, Hadlee, Imran, Roberts, Holding, Garner, Marshall, Croft, Clarke, Willis and Botham is pretty special.

 

[ToeCrusher2]

Greatest opener of all time, 2nd best batsman ever produced by asia. Bradman would have trouble averaging even 30 if he opened in gavaskar's era

 

[Proactive_]

Best Indian batsman ever, much better than Tendulkar.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Better test batsman than Tendulkar. [MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION] agree?

 

[idrizzy]

Best test opener, possibly ever? Greatest opener in Asia without a doubt.

 

[Justcrazy]

Better test batsman than Tendulkar. [MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION] agree?

Arguably yes .

 

[Justcrazy]

His last test innings of 96 on a minefield was epic , despite India loosing , you could not help but applaud the great batsman. Fantastic opener.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

Better test batsman than Tendulkar. [MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION] agree?

Arguably better, his stats as an opener is phenomenal. It's equivalent of Steven Smith's 60+ average, except with 10k runs. Also insane stats against ATG West Indies team with the best fast bowling unit of the time (and possibly all time)

Tendulkar is great when you count ODIs but Gavaskar in tests is insane

 

[Robert]

There is no point comparing anyone with Bradman. His contemporaries such as Ponsford, Hobbs, Hammond, Hutton, Compton, Headley are considered ATGs yet Bradman was almost twice as good as them. Let's just accept that he was a superman.

 

[Robert]

And yes I do rate Sunny higher than Tendulkar who would sometimes go AWOL under pressure.

 

[Cric1234]

Gavasker is without doubt a better new ball batsman than Tendulkar but Tendulkar is the better stroke player and possibly better in the middle order.

 

[shaz619]

Better test batsman than Tendulkar. [MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION] agree?

100% Personally, he edges Sachin based on his staggering performances against the WI alone but beyond that he's arguably the greatest opener of all time and India's best batsman.

 

[shaz619]

There is no point comparing anyone with Bradman. His contemporaries such as Ponsford, Hobbs, Hammond, Hutton, Compton, Headley are considered ATGs yet Bradman was almost twice as good as them. Let's just accept that he was a superman.

Do you think Bradman would maintain his average of 99 throughout the 70s/80s/90s had he played against such opposition across a variety of wickets

 

[Chrish]

No he himself has admitted that he wouldn't have made that many runs.. but that he still would have scored fair bit higher than the bloke who came 2nd

 

[Ab Fan]

Among top 15 greatest test cricketer I would say.

 

[Harsh Thakor]

And yes I do rate Sunny higher than Tendulkar who would sometimes go AWOL under pressure.

Would disagree considering the amount of O.D.I.cricket Tendulkar played and the enormous pressure he more than consistently overcame.100 international centuries wil probably never be surpased.Sachin's attacking style could win more games or turn them. than Sunil.Only factor in favour of Sunny is that he did not wear a helmet and was an opener.

 

[Harsh Thakor]

Among top 15 greatest test cricketer I would say.

Very close.I would say top 20 .

 

[Harsh Thakor]

Do you think Bradman would maintain his average of 99 throughout the 70s/80s/90s had he played against such opposition across a variety of wickets

I give Sunny the edge against express pace .However it is hypothetical.Incredibl;er that he never wore a helmet and still conquered great pace bowling.

 

[Harsh Thakor]

He would open the batting among the ATG side of players I have actually watched.

With Boycott, he had the tightest defensive technique I have seen.

To have averaged fifty as opener in a time of Snow, Lillee, Thomson, Hadlee, Imran, Roberts, Holding, Garner, Marshall, Croft, Clarke, Willis and Botham is pretty special.

Above all without a helmet,incredible.One could be critical stil that he waso ver defenisve or cautious at times taking too much time to accumulate runs.How would you compare him with Viv Richards or earlier Jack Hobbs?

 

[Harsh Thakor]

Sunil Gavaskar that I saw play in Karachi 1978 was an immovable object! I cannot imagine any other batsman who could stand up to the very best of all bowlers.

In pakistan my best memories are his 127 not out at Faisalabad in 1982-83 with Imran at his fierest.

 

[Harsh Thakor]

The best defensive opening batsman of all time.

absolutely right.Still I would place Len Hutton as his equal.

 

[Harsh Thakor]

He would open the batting among the ATG side of players I have actually watched.

With Boycott, he had the tightest defensive technique I have seen.

To have averaged fifty as opener in a time of Snow, Lillee, Thomson, Hadlee, Imran, Roberts, Holding, Garner, Marshall, Croft, Clarke, Willis and Botham is pretty special.

Better than Barry and Hutton?

 

[Harsh Thakor]

Best opener of all time in tests

To me only Jack Hobs was ahead.Hobbs was a master on wet wickets and had staggering record in 1st class cricket when pitches wee often unplayable before the 1st world war.

 

[Harsh Thakor]

There is no point comparing anyone with Bradman. His contemporaries such as Ponsford, Hobbs, Hammond, Hutton, Compton, Headley are considered ATGs yet Bradman was almost twice as good as them. Let's just accept that he was a superman.

Still,I give Sunny the edge facing lethal express pace or deadly spin.Bradman was not at his best on wet wickets where Headley and Hobbs overshadowed him.In all conditions to me Hobbs was the ultimate champion.Against express pace Viv was no 1 to me who would have overshadowed Bradman in the bodlyline series.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

To me only Jack Hobs was ahead.Hobbs was a master on wet wickets and had staggering record in 1st class cricket when pitches wee often unplayable before the 1st world war.

Wickets were unplayable but bowlers were also trundlers. Gavaskar averaged in 70s against ATG Windies team with possibly GOAT bowling line up. Hobbs played almost his matches against Australia, and his match sample is too small (61 compared to Gavaskar's 125, less than half)

 

[Harsh Thakor]

Wickets were unplayable but bowlers were also trundlers. Gavaskar averaged in 70s against ATG Windies team with possibly GOAT bowling line up. Hobbs played almost his matches against Australia, and his match sample is too small (61 compared to Gavaskar's 125, less than half)

Wish to confirm that Gavaskar scored 8 centuries and the most of his runs against West Indies against the lesser attacks like in 1970-71 in West Indies and in 1978-79 in India .Infact against the great quartet in 1983-84 he averaged around 44 with his average enhanced by not out century and double century.Gavaskar averaged over 100 against the weaker attacks but against the best Carribean bowling around 45.Neverthless I do not deny his accolade to rank amongst the 2-3 best of all opening batsmen.I think we missed seeing Sunny in Kerry Packer world series cricket,face Lillee-Thomson in his peak period and against.the great quartet in his peak in the late 1970's like Greg Chappell faced.Still I cannot deny Sunny was prolific against greats like Imran ,Botham etc.


To me overall on par with Len Hutton who also faced great bowing but still not equalled Hobbs's prowess on wet tracks or to turn games.Arguably Bary was also a whisker ahead as he could put a great attack into meer submission.

 

[Harsh Thakor]

Gavaskar won 53 votes by ex-players for a selection in an all-time test XI, more than any other great opening batsmen. Most Pakistani greats rate Sunny the best opening batsmen of all time.

Imran Khan classed Sunny as the most compact batsman ever while late Hanif Muhammad late Len Hutton,Viv Richards Gary Sobers and Martin Crowe ranked Sunny as the best batsman of his time.Ian Botham,Mike Brearley and Malcolm Marshall rated Sunny the best opening batsman of his day . Cricket experts like Cristopher Martin Jenkins and John Woodcock placed Sunny within touching distance of Bradman. Don Bradman may have been unfair in excluding Gavaskar from his all-time XI but by a whisker my first choices would still be Barry Richards and Jack Hobbs. To me most unfairly Dennis Lillee does not rank Gavaskar amongst his very best, on grounds of his being a relatively slow scorer.

In list of all time 100 cricketers, Cristopher Martin Jenkins ranks Gavaskar at 26th place just like David Gower, while Geoff Armstrong at 23nd place.

In my view, Bradman or Tendulkar would not have combated ferocious pace or short pitched bowling against a new ball, as courageously or with as adept skill, that too without wearing a helmet, as Gavaskar. However, I would place both ahead of Sunny, because of sheer impact. Noteworthy that Gavaskar had a better 4th innings average than Tendulkar. Remarkable that Sunny took on express pace bowling without wearing a helmet. On bad wickets and technically in my opinion Gavaskar was the equal of Tendulkar, but still a better batsman in a crisis.

Comparing Gavaskar with Viv Richards is like comparing chalk with cheese.Viv was more mercurial than Sunny, but it was Gavaskar who was the more durable.

We must consider that Gavaskar bore the brunt of a weak team unlike Viv Richards with only Vishwanath playing a supporting role. To me still, if I had to back batsmen to score a century in any circumstances, my first choice would be Gavaskar. After Bradman I cannot envisage a batsmen re writing test match record books within such a short span of time as Gavaskar.

On pure statistical merit taking into account bowling attacks faced there is a strong case for Gavaskar being rated the best batsmen of his time, 2nd best test match batsmen to Bradman and best opener ever. However aesthetic or x factor is where he arguably lost out to the likes of Tendulkar,Lara ,Viv Richards or Sobers, who all had more inherent attacking ability to turn games.

Weighing all factors in my view Gavaskar ranks at 8th place amongst all –time great batsmen, behind Bradman, Hobbs, Viv Richards, Lara, Tendulkar,Sobers, and Hammond and on par with Hutton. I would place Sunny amongst the 25 best cricketers of all time. Amongst opening batsmen I place him in 3rd place behind Jack Hobbs and Barry Richards. Hobbs was more proven on bad wickets and more impactful while Barry was more explosive and thus a better match-winner. Still it is almost impossible to make a comparison of batsmen from different eras, with such variance in conditions. I assert that even if there were more gifted batsman, Gavaskar had features to his batting character that no batsman could eclipse.

 

[BouncerGuy]

Happy Birthday to one of the ATG batters in World Cricket.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1810879344136626641

 

[Unbiased-Fan]

- 13,214 runs
- 35 Tons, the first batter to hit 30 of them in Tests
- First ever batsman to score 10k Test runs

The one who helped give Indian cricket teeth and muscle. The Significant Gavaskar. Epitome of concentration and technical flawlessness.

34 Openers have played 10 or more Tests for India , Gavaskar played the most (119) yet he hold the highest batting avg among all(50.29)

18 Indian openers managed to play 10 or more Tests outside home, Gavaskar stands tall with highest and the only one with 50+ avg(52.9)

16 Indian Openers played 10 or more Tests outside Asia, Gavaskar is the only one with 50+ avg(51.6)

His batting avg was above 40 in all 4 innings and his 4th inning avg of 58 is by far the highest among all Indian batters(no one scored even 500 runs with 50 avg in 4th inning)

Now something about his ODi career as common perception built around him for his only one inning of 1975 World Cup.

In his last phase(after 1983 world cup): Gavaskar scored 1870 runs with 43.5 Avg & 65.8 SR as an opener in ODIs.
This might sound normal numbers in current times but no other opener in the world scored more runs than him with a better Avg/SR
between 1983-87 World Cup.

Till date he remains the only cricketer to hit double centuries in all four innings of Tests.

One of the greatest of the world and Indian cricket. India's first batting prodigy. Happy Birthday Little Master Sunil Gavaskar.