Did you know Sunil Gavaskar got a haircut during a match? Here's why

Sunil Gavaskar (Pic: File Pic)

Sunil Gavaskar is one of the most gritty and technical batsmen that India has ever produced. The Indian great has many exciting records to his name -- right from becoming the first-ever batsman to complete 10,000 runs to going down in history as one of the greatest ever to feature in the game.

During his playing days, Sunil Gavaskar was known to be a player who wanted to achieve perfection in each and everything he did.

This meant that he stopped at nothing to achieve his goal, and the mid-match haircut is only one of the anecdotes, that Gavaskar himself has shared on Instagram.

It was in the first test match against England at Manchester, Team India's "Little Master" was struggling to bat in the windy conditions. At the time, Sunil Gavaskar had curly hair, which was disturbing him because of the windy conditions in the English city. Gavaskar's locks were getting into his left eye when he was facing the English bowling attack.

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The Indian batsmen then asked the on-field umpire, Dickie Bird, to cut his hair in the middle of the match. Even the umpire agreed to the Indian's request and decided to chop off Sunil Gavaskar's hair. With this, he can claim to be the only cricketer in the world who had a haircut during the match.

While Team India led by Ajit Wadekar lost the game, Gavaskar achieved the celebrated three figures of 100 after facing 251 deliveries in the first innings. The unbeaten knock saw him hit 8 fours. Later, the Indian smashed 58 runs in 140 balls in a knock that included 5 fours.

The game did not result in India's favour, but the "Little Master" did justice to Bird's acceptance of his request.

Known as one of the finest batsmen in the game's history, the Mumbaikar represented India in 125 Test matches, in which he accumulated 10,122 runs. Gavaskar's Test career ended with 34 tons and 45 half-centuries. In the One-Day Internationals, the former right-hander featured in 108 matches, and smashed 3,092 runs. In the 50-over format, Gavaskar was able to score 1 century and 27 half-centuries.