Gavaskar vs the West Indies pace attack: what the scorecards show
Sunil Gavaskar facing the great West Indies fast bowlers is one of cricket's most retold stories. Here is what the scorecards say, and just as important, what they cannot say.
This analysis was prepared for our All-Time India Test XI video (above), which discusses Gavaskar's record against West Indies.
Key findings
- 1,975 runs at 53.38, with 9 hundreds, in the 23 Tests where at least one of Roberts, Holding, Garner, Marshall, Clarke or Croft was in the West Indies XI.
- 29 of his 37 dismissals in those Tests came from the six: Holding 11, Marshall 8, Clarke 5, Roberts 3, Garner 2.
- 61.14 in India, 42.00 in the West Indies in the same set of Tests.
- Leave out 1978-79 and the average falls to 42.86. In that series only Clarke and Marshall of the six were in the XI.
- In the 7 Tests with three or more of the six together he averaged 49.60, more than Chappell (29.67), Border (40.43), Gower (32.17) or Miandad (25.89) managed in the same situation.
- Limits: this is scorecard-level data. "In the XI" does not mean "bowled at him," and no verdict on who was better is claimed.
The question
How did Gavaskar score in Tests where at least one of six West Indies fast bowlers was in the opposing XI: Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall, Sylvester Clarke and Colin Croft?
The method, and its limits
This is scorecard-level analysis, not ball-by-ball. Three rules matter before you read any number:
- "In the XI" does not mean "bowled at him." A bowler counts if he was in the opposing XI. These figures are Gavaskar's runs in those Tests, not runs scored off those bowlers.
- Matches are identified by ESPNcricinfo match ID, not by names typed in from memory.
- Who dismissed him comes from his list of dismissals on ESPNcricinfo. Of his 37 dismissals in these Tests, all 37 are known.
All figures come from ESPNcricinfo Statsguru pages saved by hand and parsed locally. Croft never played a Test with Gavaskar, so he appears in the list but contributes nothing.
The headline numbers
| Gavaskar in Tests where any of the six played | |
|---|---|
| Tests | 23 |
| Innings | 40 (3 not out) |
| Runs | 1,975 |
| Average | 53.38 |
| Hundreds | 9 (highest 236*) |
| Fifties / ducks | 4 / 5 |
| India's results in those Tests | won 2, lost 9, drawn 12 |
For comparison, all of his Tests against West Indies add up to 27 Tests, 2,749 runs at 65.45 with 13 hundreds. The gap is explained by four Tests in 1971 in which none of the six played: 774 runs at 154.80 in 8 innings. Those four Tests are a small sample, but they lift the overall record well above what he did against the six.
Home and away
| Tests | Runs | Average | Hundreds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In India | 14 | 1,345 | 61.14 | 6 |
| In the West Indies | 9 | 630 | 42.00 | 3 |
Away from home, against the six, he averaged 42.00, with 13 of his 15 dismissals there coming from them.
Who got him out
Of his 37 dismissals in these Tests, 29 came from the six:
| Bowler | Dismissals of Gavaskar | Tests together | Gavaskar's average in those Tests |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Holding | 11 | 15 | 45.40 |
| Malcolm Marshall | 8 | 14 | 51.14 |
| Sylvester Clarke | 5 | 5 | 98.86 * |
| Andy Roberts | 3 | 11 | 46.94 |
| Joel Garner | 2 | 4 | 36.83 * |
| Colin Croft | 0 | 0 | none |
* Fewer than 10 innings, so treat as a small sample. These Test counts overlap: a Test with Holding and Marshall both in the XI appears in both rows, so the rows cannot be added together.
Holding is the standout: 11 of the 29, in 15 Tests together.
When several of them played together
| Situation | Tests | Innings | Runs | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Three or more of the six in the XI | 7 | 12 | 496 | 49.60 |
| Holding and Marshall both in the XI | 11 | 20 | 745 | 41.39 |
| Roberts, Holding, Garner and Marshall all in the XI | 4 | 7 | 221 | 36.83 |
In those four Tests with the main four together, all 6 of his dismissals were to those four. That is only 7 innings, so it is a pattern worth noting, not a conclusion.
One series changes the picture
Leave out the 1978-79 series in India and the numbers change a lot:
| Tests | Innings | Runs | Average | Hundreds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All 23 Tests | 23 | 40 | 1,975 | 53.38 | 9 |
| Without 1978-79 | 17 | 31 | 1,243 | 42.86 | 5 |
| 1978-79 only | 6 | 9 | 732 | 91.50 | 4 |
In 1978-79, only Clarke and Marshall of the six were in the XI. So a large part of the "against the fearsome six" average comes from a series in which most of them did not play. That is the strongest reason to read the headline 53.38 with care.
How other batters compare
The same filter, applied to four other great batters of the era:
| Batter | Tests | Runs | Average | Hundreds | Average with 3+ of the six in the XI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunil Gavaskar | 23 | 1,975 | 53.38 | 9 | 49.60 (7 Tests) |
| Greg Chappell | 12 | 1,058 | 58.78 | 4 | 29.67 (6 Tests) |
| Allan Border | 26 | 1,754 | 40.79 | 2 | 40.43 (12 Tests) |
| David Gower | 19 | 1,149 | 32.83 | 1 | 32.17 (12 Tests) |
| Javed Miandad | 12 | 600 | 27.27 | 1 | 25.89 (5 Tests) |
Chappell's overall average is higher than Gavaskar's, but it falls to 29.67 in the Tests where three or more of the six played together. Gavaskar holds up best in that harder setting, at 49.60. Samples are small, so this describes what the scorecards show, not a verdict.
What this does not prove
- It does not measure how he played any single bowler. For that you would need ball-by-ball data, which does not exist for this era.
- It does not show a bowler bowled at him just because he was in the XI.
- It does not settle who was "better." Averages depend on pitches, conditions, opposing attacks and context that the scorecards do not capture.
Sources
Data: ESPNcricinfo Statsguru, saved and parsed locally, checked against ESPNcricinfo's printed career figures. Analysis, tables and conclusions are our own. See the data sources page.
