Sunil Gavaskar follows Sachin Tendulkar's lead by not celebrating birthday this year

Former Indian cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar turned 71 on Friday, July 10. However, the cricketer-turned-commentator has decided a take a non-celebration approach for the occasion, much like Sachin Tendulkar did on his birthday on April 24 earlier this year. In an interview with the Times of India, Sunil Gavaskar said that he will not be celebrating his birthday due to the ongoing coronavirus global pandemic.

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Sunil Gavaskar to not celebrate birthday like Sachin Tendulkar, expresses gratefulness to well-wishers

Sunil Gavaskar said that “many lives have been lost” due to the ongoing pandemic and he wants to follow the lockdown restrictions as imposed by the Indian government for safety and precaution from the contagious disease. The legendary cricketer also said that he has been “blessed” by many good things in his life and he is grateful to his family and his extended family of well-wishers.

Sunil Gavaskar also talked about how he is taking care of his fitness during the lockdown. He said that he exercises for about 90 minutes in the evening daily and eats sparingly to stay in a reasonable shape. The 125-Test veteran revealed that he has also resorted to reading fictional books and is currently trying to learn to speak Spanish.

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Sunil Gavaskar centuries

A sheer number of Sunil Gavaskar centuries place him among the ranks of all-time greats of the game. He registered 34 centuries and 45 half-centuries in Tests and he was the first person to score hundreds in each innings of a match on three occasions. Since his debut in 1971 up until his retirement in 1987, Gavaskar represented the national side in 125 Tests and 108 ODIs. The right-hander scored 10,122 Test runs at an average of 51.12 and he was the first cricketer to scale 10,000-plus runs in the format. The cricketer was also one of the members of the 1983 World Cup line-up, which India went on to win under the leadership of Kapil Dev.

Donation to Coronavirus Maharashtra

Apart from not celebrating their birthdays to honour the lockdown restrictions, both Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar have also donated hefty sums to coronavirus Maharashtra and Prime Ministers relief funds. Sunil Gavaskar’s son Rohan Gavaskar confirmed on Twitter in April that the legendary batsman donated ₹35 lakh to Prime Ministers Cares Fund and ₹24 lakh to Chief Minister of Maharashtra Relief Fund.

On the other hand, Sachin Tendulkar donation includes a payment of ₹50 lakh he made to fight the coronavirus crisis across India in March. Out of his ₹50 lakh donation, he provided ₹25 lakh to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund in Maharashtra. The rest of the Sachin Tendulkar donation amount (₹25 lakh) was allocated to the PM Cares Fund.

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Image credit: BCCI Twitter