"Practising For Tests" - Sunil Gavaskar’s Justification For His Infamous 174-Ball 36

Sunil Gavaskar achieved countless milestones during his illustrious career for India, but one innings still draws criticism - his painfully slow knock in the opening match of the 1975 World Cup against England.

Chasing 335 in 60 overs, Gavaskar opened the innings and crawled to 36* off 174 balls, refusing to accelerate. India, despite losing only three wickets, managed just 132 in their full quota of overs.

Recalling the game, Gavaskar’s former teammate Karsan Ghavri said, "We, as Indian cricketers, did not know how to play one-day cricket. In the first match, England scored 334, but when we came to bat, Sunil played out all 60 overs in that particular match," he told Vickey Lalwani on his YouTube channel.

"So many times, messages were sent, asking him to either accelerate or get out, trying to pick up the pace. But Sunil Gavaskar was Sunil Gavaskar in the 1970s.

"He wouldn't listen to anyone. He just played out Tony Greig, Geoff Arnold, Chris Old and Bob Willis. The reason he gave after the match was, 'I was facing these guys, practising against them for the Test matches in the future.'

"There was turmoil in the dressing room. When our manager asked him, Gavaskar said, 'Leave me alone’.”

Gavaskar finished with 3,092 ODI runs at an average of 35.13 and a strike rate of 62.26.