Gundappa Ranganath Viswanath turned 61 today. He was born on 12.02.1949 at Bhadravathi, Shimoga District in Karnataka State. A pen sketch of the mastero is for the visitors of crickick.com

Known popularly as “Vishy”, to his friends and team mates, he has enthralled the cricketing public all over the world with his graceful wristy square drives. The word “Wristy genius” was aptly carved by scribes for this genial gentleman Cricketer from Karnataka.

Viswanath remains the only batsman in the world to register a hundred on debut in a first class game, official test match and unofficial test match.

Vishy made his test debut against Australia at Kanpur in 1969-70. He scored zero in the first innings and 137 in the second innings.

On his Ranji debut against Andhra at Vijayawada in 1967-68 he scored 230 which was the then highest individual score on debut in Ranji Trophy.

On his Unofficial test debut against Sri Lanka at Hyderabad in 1975-76 he made 117 and 28 not out.

Vishy’s zero and 137 on his debut on his test debut made him the first batsman in the annals of Test cricket to score a “duck” and a “ton” in his first test. AC Hudson of South Africa and Mohammad Wasim of Pakistan emulated Viswanath later. Vishy was 20 years and 281 days old when he made his debut hundred

Viswanath broke the “hoodo” that was associated with the debut centurions of India. Lala Amarnath, Deepak Shodhan, Kripal Singh, Abbas Ali Baig and Hanumant Singh had failed to hit another hundred after registering a hundred on their test debut. Vishy with 115 against England at Brabourne Stadium Bombay in 1972-73 carved his second hundred. Tony Greig lifting the Little Master physically for this effort is evergreen in the minds of cricketing public.

He has played 91 tests and has an aggregate of 6080 runs with 14 hundreds and 35 fifties. He played 87 tests in a row starting from Georgetown test against West Indies in 1970-71 to Karachi test against Pakistan in 1982-83 and bettered the then record of most consecutive appearances in 85 tests held by Garfield Sobers of West Indies.

It is interesting to note that whenever “Vishy” scored a hundred, India never lost a test match. It ensured either a win or a draw.

His first overseas hundred – 112 – was against West Indies at Trinidad in 1975-76. This game was won by India by six wickets. India was set a target of 403 runs. India’s 406 for 4 was the then highest fourth innings total to win a test.

Viswanath’s only double hundred in tests – 222 against England at Madras in 1981-82 remained the only “Double Nelson” in a test innings for twenty seasons till Nathan Astle of New Zealand scored 222 against England at Christchurch in 2001-02. J Rudolph of South Africa and Rahul Dravid of India are the other batsmen to register a “Double Nelson” in a test innings.

Viswanath and Yashpal Sharma were concerned in a 316 runs partnership for the third wicket against England at Madras in 1981-82 which was India’s first of the five three figure partnership of 300 plus runs posted by Indian batsmen in tests as of now. The partners of this stand provided the seventh instance of the same pair batting throughout an uninterrupted day of test cricket.

Viswanath was the first Indian batsman to register six consecutive fifties in tests. He also holds the distinction of being the first Indian batsman to register a hundred against all the then test playing nations when he scored 145 runs against Pakistan at Faisalabad in 1978-79.

One of Vishy’s greatest innings was played against a young Andy Roberts who was at his fastest on a first-day fresh pitch in Madras in 1974-75 against West Indies. Roberts had ripped through the Indian batting and the score card read a dismal 76 for the loss of six wickets. At that point Vishy in the company of the plucky Karsan Ghavri, and tailenders Bedi and Chandra, added 114 runs, of which his contribution was an amazing 97 not out, remaining stranded a tantalizing three runs away from yet another century. His square driving in this innings was sublime. His strokes bisected and dissected the field with utter disdain. If Roberts strayed on to the pads, he flicked them with consummate ease. His match winning effort in this test ensured India a victory and leveled the five match series 2-2. It was said that Chandra, the last man dismissed with Vishy stranded on 97 not out was sadder than Vishy.

Yet another memorable century by Viswanath was his 114 against Australia at Melbourne in 1980-81, where he set India up for a famous victory while Kapil Dev ran through the Australian batting for a paltry 83, chasing only 143 for victory. In that match Vishy’s driving off the front and back foot against Lillee and Pascoe were impeccable and was an absolute treat to behold. He had so much time to negotiate them and his stroke play made the famous Lillee and Pascoe – the genuine quick and hostile bowlers look like medium pace trundlers. Such was his quality batting in the test.

I think any topic about Vishy would not be complete if one does not mention about his fair play. There are number of occasions when he has walked out without waiting for the umpire’s decision in all forms of cricket, be it a tennis ball game, first class game or a test match.

The finest example of this gesture was evidenced in the Golden Jubilee Test against England at Bombay in 1979-80. Umpire Hanumantha Rao – also from Karnataka – ruled England wicket keeper batsman Bob Taylor out caught at the wicket. The batsman protested and stood his ground.

Vishy was leading India in this test and was fielding at first slip. He confirmed that the batsman had not touched the ball and persuaded the umpire to revoke his decision. India lost this test match, but it was Vishy who won the hearts of the cricketing public all over the world.

For this fine gesture Gundappa Ranganath Viswanath was very aptly awarded the “Player of the century” for the “Sprit of the Cricket” by “The Wisden” at a glittering ceremony held in London some time back