Former India opening batsmen Gautam Gambhir is today celebrating his 39th birthday. Gambhir is without a shadow of a doubt one of the best openers India has ever produced. In his prime, he was a vital cog of team India in all 3 formats of the game.
Gambhir’s outstanding knock in the T20 world cup against Pakistan helped India register a path-breaking victory. Then in Test cricket, his lion-hearted knock against New Zealand in Napier is still talked about. In the second innings when India was following on to save the Test, Gambhir held one end up and scored 137 but more importantly faced 436 balls.
Then who can overlook his epic knock of 97 against Sri Lanka in the 2011 World Cup final at Wankhade? His brave batting display helped team India achieve their dream of winning the world cup after 28 years.
Even in IPL, Gambhir is counted among the top captains. He led Kolkata Knight Riders to two IPL trophies in 2012 and 2014 respectively.
Last year, he received the prestigious Padma Shri award for his great service for the country.
Here are the 3 greatest records held by Gautam Gambhir:
1. 5 consecutive Test centuries
In 2010, Gambhir was among the best Test batsmen in the world. He back then created his history by becoming the only Indian to score 5 consecutive Test centuries.
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He joined an illustrious list which consisted of Don Bradman (6), Jacques Kallis (5) and Mohammad Yousuf (5). As a result, Gambhir was also named the ICC test player of the year as he enjoyed his peak batting form.
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2. 11 consecutive 50s
Starting in 2010, Gambhir also became just the second batsman in the world to record 11 consecutive half-centuries in the longest format of the game. It was a year that belonged to Gambhir as he dominated every bowling attack both home and overseas.
Before the former India opener, only the legendary West Indies batsman Sir Vivian Richards had scored 11 consecutive fifties in Tests.
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3. Most Runs as Indian Openers with Virender Sehwag in Tests
The duo of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir helped India win numerous matches in the past decade. The prolific pair holds the record for scoring most runs as Indian openers in Test cricket history.
The two India openers in partnership with each other at the top-scored 4412 runs in 87 innings with an astonishing average of 51.79. Overall they are placed 5th in the all-time list of most runs as openers in Test cricket.
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