Flashback: The oldest Indian to score his maiden ODI ton

Scoring a century in an international match is a really special feeling for any cricketer. And when it is the first and the only hundred in a particular format, that’s something that a player himself and the whole world remembers for a long time. Legendary Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar achieved this unique feat in the year 1987.

Gavaskar scored his first ODI century after 106 matches and became the oldest Indian to register a maiden century in the 50-overs format. He achieved the feat against New Zealand in Nagpur on October 31, 1987, aged 38y 113d.

Speaking of the match, the occasion was the 1987 World Cup which was being played in India. New Zealand batted first and scored a challenging 221/9 in 50 overs. India had to chase down the target in 42.2 overs to face England and avoid Pakistan in the semi-final clash.

Opening the batting along with Kris Srikkanth, the Mumbai-born batter slammed 103 off just 88 ball, which included ten fours and three sixes with a strike rate of 117.04. He reached his ton in just 85 deliveries and remained unbeaten as India reached the target in just 32.1 overs. In the 107th attempt, Gavaskar finally ended the drought and achieved his first and solitary ton in the format.

He was a successful Test player who smashed a record 34 centuries in his career but couldn’t really find his feet in the limited-overs format. In India’s first match in the 1983 World Cup against England, he managed to score unbeaten 36 runs off 176 deliveries after playing 60 overs with a strike rate of just 20.68 in a run chase of 335.

The above-mentioned century innings against New Zealand happened to be the penultimate innings for Gavaskar in international cricket as he played one final match after that against England at Wankhede Stadium on November 5, 1987. The little master had struck 27 half-centuries and three scores of the 90s in the ODIs as the batting maestro and one of India’s finest Test match players signed off the format with 3092 runs in 102 innings with an average of 35.13.