Sachin Tendulkar on Tuesday achieved another milestone as he became the first cricketer in the history of the game to cross 15000 runs mark in Test cricket.
Playing in his 182nd match, Tendulkar reached the mark on the third day of the first Test against the West Indies when he scored his 28th run in India’s second innings with a single off leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo.
After crossing the coveted milestone, the batting maestro looked up at the heavens and acknowledged the standing ovation given by his teammates from the dressing room as his partner Rahul Dravid congratulated him.
Sachin Tendulkar’s Test milestones – 1,000 to 15,000
Runs
Tests
Innings
Opponents
Venue
Series
Time Taken
1000
19
28
South Africa
Johannesburg
1992-93
3y 11d
2000
32
44
New Zealand
Hamilton
1993-94
4y 124d
3000
45
67
South Africa
Kanpur
1996-97
7y 23d
4000
58
86
Sri Lanka
Mumbai
1997-98
8y 18d
5000
67
103
Pakistan
Kolkata
1998-99
9y 93d
6000
76
120
South Africa
Bangalore
1999-00
10y 108d
7000
85
136
South Africa
Bloemfontein
2001-02
11y 353d
8000
96
154
West Indies
Kingston
2001-02
12y 184d
9000
111
179
Australia
Sydney
2003-04
14y 48d
10000
122
195
Pakistan
Kolkata
2004-05
15y 121d
11000
139
223
England
Nottingham
2007
17y 254d
12000
152
247
Australia
Mohali
2008-09
18y 337d
13000
163
266
Bangladesh
Chittagong
2009-10
20y 63d
14000
171
279
Australia
Bangalore
2010-11
20y 328d
15000
182
300
West Indies
Delhi
2011-12
21y 358d
The West Indian players also came up after the completion of the over to congratulate the iconic batsman.
Tendulkar was 35 runs short of 15,000 before this match and he scored seven in the first innings before being adjidged leg-before off Fidel Edwards.
With 14,422 crowd cheering him, Tendulkar, who came in at the fall of Virender Sehwag’s wicket when the team total was 95 for two, played cautiously with India needing 276 runs to win the match.
He hit just two fours after facing 76 balls to reach 28. The 38-year-old Tendulkar, the world’s most prolific batsman, now needs just one hundred to complete a historic 100 international tons. He has scored 51 Test tons and 48 ODI hundreds.
Rahul Dravid, who was batting at the other end with Tendulkar, is the second highest run-getter in Tests with 12,775 runs before this match while Australian Ricky Ponting is third on the list with 12487 runs.
Top run-getters in Test cricket (minimum 10,000 runs)
15,005* – Sachin Tendulkar (IND)
12,859* – Rahul Dravid (IND)
12,487 – Ricky Ponting (AUS)
11,953 – Brian Lara (WIS)
11,947 – Jacques Kallis (RSA)
11,174 – Allan Border (AUS)
10,927 – Steve Waugh (AUS)
10,122 – Sunil Gavaskar (IND)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com