Sunny days: Little master becomes highest Test scorer

HT's report on Gavaskar topping the list of highest run scorers in Test cricket history

- KNK Menon

Master batsman Sunil Gavaskar had his tryst with manifest destiny on November 13, 1983, when he became the leading scorer of runs in the history of Test cricket. Gavaskar's sparkling knock of 90 not only erased the existing record of 8,114 runs by Geoff Boycott but also helped India finish the second day of the third Test in a sound position.

Though the afternoon became quite memorable for the capacity 50,000 fans at the Gujarat Stadium, it would have been a unique occasion for the stalwart Indian opener had he got the necessary 10 more runs to emerge as the all-time record holder of the highest number of centuries in Test cricket. As it turned out, Gavaskar narrowly failed to overhaul the total of 29 centuries which he shares with Don Bradman.

It was a thoroughly professional piece of batting from Gavaskar, which lasted 182 minutes and which contained 13 thundering fours that silenced the dreaded West Indies pace battery for a major part of the afternoon.