Name at birth: Sunil Manohar Gavaskar

Sunil "Sunny" Gavaskar is a record-setting batsman and a national hero to India's cricket fans. His spectacular professional career began with a bang: in his Test debut series against West Indies (1971) he scored a record 774 runs. He has had 81 first class centuries (or hundreds) and scored a total of 25,834 runs, including 10,122 runs in Test cricket (he was the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in Test). In the 1980s Gavaskar, sometimes called "The Little Master" (as he stands 5' 4"), dominated Indian cricket and became famous for his meticulous approach as well as his distinctive headgear. After his retirement in 1988 he became a commentator and columnist. He has also authored several cricket books and an autobiography, Sunny Days (1980).