Sunil's famous crab ton

"The inaugural World Cup came in 1975 (two years after the ladies held their own tournament). The first match in that competition produced one of the most controversial one-day innings of all time. "
...
"By the end of the innings, Gavaskar had crawled to 36 not out off 174 balls with just one four. India had scored 132 for 3 and had lost by 202 runs. "
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/500411.html

I had always heard it was some kind of protest against ODI, but he'd played pretty sprightly innings in the Prudential ODIs in the previous year.

From his description it seems he entered into some kind of fugue state.

I remember watching it! It was stupefying really. A lovely warm June day, a full house at Lords and the start of a new era for the game. So what does Sunny do - help himself to 60 overs of practice! At least, that's what his excuse was.

Playing for a draw... batting practice...

Another theory is that it was a protest against Venkat's captaincy. I thought that was possibly likelier. There will never be a more selfish innings than that.

Why did nobody run him out?

cos he was so anchored to the crease theyd just have gotten themselves out

I think even Denniss Amiss had a bowl