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That innings of Sunil Gavaskar was so slow that seeing him broke the dam of patience of the cricket fans. He wrote the script of that slow innings in the first match of the World Cup against England on 7 June 1975.
Sunil Gavaskar’s name is one of the biggest batsmen of India. He was the backbone of Indian batting in the 70s and 80s. But, 47 years ago today, he played such an innings on the stage of the ODI World Cup, in which he made the fans feel like watching a Test match. That innings of Gavaskar was so slow that seeing him broke the dam of patience of the cricket fans. He wrote the script of that slow innings in the first match of the World Cup against England on 7 June 1975. Then ODI cricket was played of 60 overs, not 50 overs. India lost that match against England. Sunil Gavaskar in India’s defeat (Sunil Gavaskar) That slow innings and his batting remained in the discussion.
The first ODI World Cup was played in 1975. India’s first encounter in that World Cup was with England. The match was on June 7, in which Sunil Gavaskar came out to open the Indian innings. But the way he played, neither the fellow players nor the cricket fans expected him to play. As a result, it happened that the anger of the fans became high.
Only 36 runs in 174 balls
Sunil Gavaskar scored just 36 runs in that match against England facing 174 balls. During this his batting average was around 21 i.e. 20.69. In ODI cricket, only one four was involved in that innings of Gavaskar, giving the feel of a Test match.
Now when Gavaskar played slow as an opener, it also affected Team India. The Indian team scored only 132 runs for 3 wickets in 60 overs due to their slow innings. England won that match by a huge margin of 202 runs.
England had made a big score at that time
England team batted first in that match. In that match played at Lord’s, England scored a total of 334 runs in 60 overs, which was the highest score at that time. Dennis Amis scored 137 runs and Keith Fletcher scored 68 runs for England. At the same time, Chris Old played a stormy innings of 51 runs.
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