Dubai, Feb 10 (IANS): Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar was inducted into the International Cricket Council (ICC) Hall of Fame in Dubai, receiving his commemorative cap from fellow Hall of Famer and team-mate Kapil Dev.
Gavaskar is one of the initial 55 inductees in the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame which was launched in January 2009 in association with the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA) as part of the ICC's Centenary Year. He now joins a club that includes 72 male and female cricketers.
In the presence of ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat and former Pakistan captains Aamir Sohail, Ramiz Raja and Waqar Younis, Gavaskar accepted the cap from Dev in front of a select gathering Wednesday.
One of the game's greatest opening batsmen, Gavaskar represented India in 125 Test matches, captaining in 47 of those games, and also played in 108 ODIs. During an illustrious 16-year career spanning from 1971 to 1987, the 62-year-old scored 10,122 Test runs at an average of 51.12. He also scored 3,092 ODI runs with his only century coming in the 1987 World Cup against New Zealand in Nagpur.
He was also a member of the India squad that won the 1983 World Cup in England, defeating the West Indies by 43 runs.
Gavaskar is the first Test batsman to complete 10,000 runs and also the first to score 30 Test centuries, achieving the feat against Pakistan during the 1986-87 Test series and against the West Indies in Chennai during the 1983-84 Test series, respectively.
Gavaskar was delighted to receive the cap.
"It is a huge honour because it is the peers in the game who decide who is going to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. It has taken some time to co-ordinate the presentation but finally it is there and I am delighted that I have been inducted," he said in an ICC release.
Gavaskar was thrilled to receive the cap from Dev who was his captain in the 1983 triumph.
"Kapil is somebody who I consider as the greatest Indian cricketer and to receive this cap from him is a real big plus, a real big honour.
"Kapil and I have had some wonderful times playing in the Indian team. Being part of the World Cup winning squad is a memory that will always stay with me. Kapil lifting the Cup at Lord's is something that I will always treasure and, therefore, to receive the cap from him makes this occasion even more special."
ICC Cricket Hall of Fame - initial inductees (55): Sydney Barnes, Bishen Singh Bedi, Alec Bedser, Richie Benaud, Allan Border, Ian Botham, Geoffrey Boycott, Donald Bradman, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Denis Compton, Colin Cowdrey, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Lance Gibbs, Graham Gooch, David Gower, W.G. Grace, Tom Graveney, Gordon Greenidge, Richard Hadlee, Walter Hammond, Neil Harvey, George Headley, Jack Hobbs, Michael Holding, Leonard Hutton, Rohan Kanhai, Imran Khan, Alan Knott, Jim Laker, Harold Larwood, Dennis Lillee, Ray Lindwall, Clive Lloyd, Hanif Mohammad, Rodney Marsh, Malcolm Marshall, Peter May, Javed Miandad, Keith Miller, Bill O'Reilly, Graeme Pollock, Wilfred Rhodes, Barry Richards, Vivian Richards, Andy Roberts, Garfield Sobers, Brian Statham, Fred Trueman, Derek Underwood, Clyde Walcott, Everton Weekes, Frank Woolley, Frank Worrell.