Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar on Friday celebrated his 60th birthday by paying a visit to Satya Sai Baba at his ashram in Puttaparthi near Bangalore.

Gavaskar was accompanied by his entire family and Gundappa Viswanath, his brother-in-law, on the visit.

The first batsman ever to reach 10,000 runs in the history of cricket, Gavaskar had a distinguished career adorned with many landmarks.

Playing with his bat very close to his pads, Gavaskar was the epitome of copybook batting as he scored 10,122 runs from 125 Tests with a then record of 34 Test tons in an international career spanning 16 years.

The diminutive cricketer-turned-columnist and commentator was also the first batsman to surpass Sir Donald Bradman's 29 centuries in Tests, an achievement which acquire more significance as it came in the era of tearaway West Indian bowlers.

He and Viswanath were the backbone of the Indian batting line-up when the batsmen were not protected with modern-day protective equipment like helmet and there was also no restriction on number of bumpers that could be bowled in an over.

One of the greatest opening batsmen of all time, Gavaskar was concentration personified, who defence was almost unbreachable, making him the most prized scalp of his time.

He played a stellar role with Dilip Sardesai and Eknath Solkar to help India to a historic series victory in the Caribbean under the leadership of Ajit Wadekar. His feats in the West Indies also resulted in a Calypso penned in his praise.

... contd.