Tendulkar's where Gavaskar wanted him to be – at Mt. 15000

Every time Tendulkar steps on to the cricket ground, he breaks a record. Just like that. He’s reached such a plane of achievement and longevity that records are as commonplace to him as runs are to the other batsmen. And in his case even that seems normal. It’s so normal that we expect no less. So as he took the field, with India locked in a tense battle with West Indies during the first Test at Kotla, the record was probably the farthest thing from his mind. He had a target in sight and nothing else. [caption id=“attachment_126430” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“While Gavaskar stood alone, Tendulkar has several contemporaries who have run him close through his career. Reuters”]  [/caption] But as he got closer to the 15,000 run mark, the crowd, the twitterati, the commentators – all started talking about his mark. He wanted to get there to. In fact, in an interview with the Wisden Cricketer he had said, “I am not pleased yet with what I have done. Sunil Gavaskar has told me that I have to get to 15,000 runs. He said he would be angry with me and would come and catch me if I didn’t. I admire him so much and to score that many would be a terrific achievement, but that is not the only aim.” Indeed, the battle for Tendulkar at this moment is all about winning this game. The ton of tons doesn’t matter — just the match; just the win. But in the long run, Mt. 15000 will matter. As will 300 innings in his Test career. These are records that every cricketer will dream about when they are starting out. At one point, the figure was 10,000. When Gavaskar reached the figure in 1987, there was no one close to him. It took Allan Border, the best part of six years to get past the record. But 10000 remained special; it remained the mark of greatness. For future generations, what will it be? Will 15000 be that number? While Gavaskar stood alone, Tendulkar has several contemporaries who have run him close through his career. There was a time when Ricky Ponting had come so close, that it was almost a given that he would overtake the master batsman. But then Tendulkar got his second wind, and Ponting lost the plot. If you go by numbers alone, Rahul Dravid (at his current average of 53.11) would need to play another 40 innings (approximately 20 Tests) to reach Tendulkar’s current mark. Ricky Ponting, 36, needs another 47 innings at his current average to get there. Jacques Kallis, the only player among those with over 10000 career runs who has a better average than Tendulkar (57.43) who need another 53 innings to reach 15000. If you go further down the list among active players – Mahela Jayawardene would need 98 innings to match Sachin and Shivnarine Chanderpaul would need 108 innings. Both instances are clearly not going to happen. If anything these numbers only prove to us once again the Goliath that Tendulkar is. Each day he strides into the field and calls out his challenge to the men of cricket, but no man dares to stand before him. The match may be far from over. But we’ve scaled another peak, cricket itself has reached a new high.