Sunil Gavaskar, former India captain, made his Test debut on this day in 1971 against the West Indies. Gavaskar went on to become a legend of the game and is considered as one of the finest opening batsmen of all time. On his Test debut’s 50th anniversary, former cricketers and fans flooded Twitter with heartwarming messages for the legendary Indian cricketer. Sachin Tendulkar took to Twitter to pay tribute to his idol and said Gavaskar was someone he looked up to as a young boy.

“50 years ago today, he took the Cricketing World by storm. He scored 774 runs in his debut series and each one of us had a hero to look up to. India won the series in the West Indies and then in England and all of a sudden the sport in India had a new meaning. As a young boy I knew I had someone to look up to and try and be like him. That has never changed,” Tendulkar tweeted.

A tribute to My Idol! pic.twitter.com/l6nP89pUQi

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) March 6, 2021

“He remains my hero. Wish you a happy 50th in international cricket Mr. Gavaskar. To everyone of the 1971 team a happy 50th Anniversary. You all made us proud and showed us light,” he added.

Ex-India pacer RP Singh also congratulated Gavaskar on the 50th anniversary of his Test debut.

Absolute privilege to share commentary box with #SunilGavaskar .50 years ago, #SunnyBhai made his Test debut and the best thing about the living legend is that he still wants to learn something new from the game. pic.twitter.com/6Od9xchGxq

— R P Singh (@rpsingh) March 6, 2021

“Absolute privilege to share commentary box with #SunilGavaskar .50 years ago, #SunnyBhai made his Test debut and the best thing about the living legend is that he still wants to learn something new from the game,” RP Singh tweeted.

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Gavaskar played 125 Tests and scored 10,122 runs at an average of 51.12. He also smashed 34 centuries and 45 half-centuries in the longest format of the game.

Gavaskar also played 108 One-Day Internationals for India and scored over 3,000 runs.