He was among the most talented young batsmen at that time and his Test debut was eagerly awaited, which came on this day in Port of Spain against the West Indies.
It turned out to be a memorable game for India as they ended up winning their first ever Test against the West Indies with the 22-year-old Gavaskar scoring 65 and 67 not out.
Many more such deeds were to follow as Gavaskar, blessed with a near-perfect technique and enormous powers of concentration, went on to become one of the world’s greatest opening batsmen.
He scored a record 774 runs at 154.80 in that debut series with four centuries before going on to become the first to log 10,000 runs and 34 hundreds in Tests.
Here are the other memorable sporting stories that happened on this day:
1902: Real Madrid officially founded with Juan Padros as president.
1922: Babe Ruth signs new contract with New York Yankees for three years at $52,000 a year, the then highest ever for a baseball player.
1974: Australia’s Chappell brothers Ian (145 & 121) and Greg (247 & 133) become the first siblings to score centuries in both innings of a Test during a drawn game against New Zealand in Wellington.
1985: Mike Tyson, 18, wins his first pro fight as he KOs Hector Mercedes in 1st round in Albany, New York.
