On This Day in 1983 – December 29, batting maestro
Sunil Gavaskar achieved a major milestone in his career. Against the West Indies in the sixth Test in Chennai, Gavaskar scored a career-best 236 not out — then the highest score by an Indian in Test history — a day after leapfrogging Australian legend
Don Bradman as the batter with the most Test hundreds (30).
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!A day earlier, Gavaskar had achieved a monumental feat, breaking Bradman's long-standing record of 29 Test centuries, which had remained intact for more than three decades. Bradman retired from his celebrated Test career in 1948, and it took Gavaskar's effort in 1983 to finally surpass the mark.
And on this day that year, Gavaskar's highest individual score of 236 not out was five runs more than the previous Indian record of 231 by Vinoo Mankad against New Zealand in Chennai, set way back in January 1956. It remained India's highest Test score for almost two decades before VVS Laxman's epic 281 against Australia at Eden Gardens in 2001.
Gavaskar went on to set the record for the most Test hundreds, retiring with 34 centuries in his 125-match Test career. He later became the first batter to score 10,000 Test runs in 1987, finishing his decorated career with 10,122 runs at an average of 51.12, including 34 hundreds and 45 fifties in 214 innings.
Here's how the India–West Indies match panned out, in which Gavaskar surpassed Bradman and registered the highest score by an Indian in Chennai:India entered the sixth and final Test of the series in Chennai trailing 0–3, after the visitors won the matches in Kanpur, Ahmedabad and Kolkata, while the Tests in Delhi and Mumbai ended in draws.
The pressure was firmly on the hosts. West Indies skipper Clive Lloyd won the toss and elected to bat first on December 24, 1983. However, no play was possible on the opening day due to rain in Chennai, followed by a rest day on Christmas.
As a result, the match effectively began on Boxing Day, officially the second day of the contest.
India managed to take five West Indies wickets that day while keeping the visitors quiet. The West Indies went into stumps on 207/5, with Jeff Dujon batting on 48 and Winston Davis on 4.
Dujon went on to score a half-century the next day — the only batter to cross fifty for the Windies. With as many as nine batters reaching double figures, the visitors were eventually bowled out for 313 on December 27.
For India, captain and pace spearhead Kapil Dev returned figures of 4 for 44, while spinner Maninder Singh picked up 3 for 41. Roger Binny also chipped in with 2 for 48, while Ravi Shastri (1/72) and Shivlal Yadav (1/96) were also among the wickets.
India suffered a disastrous start to their innings, losing opener Anshuman Gaekwad and No.3 Dilip Vengsarkar for ducks to Malcolm Marshall, slumping to 0/2. Gavaskar steadied the innings alongside Navjot Sidhu (20), with the pair adding 54 runs for the third wicket.
Andy Roberts broke the stand, and India lost another wicket in Ashok Malhotra (9) to Roger Harper before stumps on December 27, returning to the pavilion at 69/4.
On December 28, India lost Shivlal Yadav (3) early in the morning session. From there on, however, it was hard toil for the famed West Indies bowlers. Gavaskar found an able partner in Ravi Shastri, and the duo frustrated the visitors with resolute batting.
Gavaskar, who had already equalled Bradman's tally of 29 hundreds, went past the legend with a superb century — his 30th in Test cricket. He also put on a massive 170-run partnership with Shastri, who scored 72 batting at No.7.
The stand gave India a huge boost as they ended December 28 on 262/6, with Gavaskar unbeaten on 149.
On the final day of the contest, Gavaskar completed his double hundred and added two crucial partnerships with Kapil Dev and Syed Kirmani. He added 39 runs for the eighth wicket and an unbeaten 143-run stand for the ninth wicket with Kirmani before India declared at 451/8.
Kirmani contributed 63 not out, while Gavaskar remained unbeaten on his career-best 236, sealing the highest individual score by an Indian in Test history.
The record stood for 18 years before Laxman's iconic 281 against Australia at Eden Gardens in Kolkata in 2001.
Today, Gavaskar's famous knock ranks 15th on the list of highest Test scores by an Indian, topped by Virender Sehwag's 319, followed by his 309. The third triple century belongs to Karun Nair, who scored an unbeaten 303 against England.
Incidentally, both Sehwag's 319 against South Africa and Nair's 303 not out came in Chennai as well — a venue that has proven to be a happy hunting ground for Indian batters since that fateful day on December 29, 1983.
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