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Cricket PlayersSunil Gavaskar’s 10,000 runs are equal to today’s 16,000 or more: Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq
In March 1987, Sunil Gavaskar had become the first cricketer to score 10,000 Test runs in a Test match against Pakistan at Ahmedabad. Inzamam-ul-Haq said Gavaskar’s tally of runs would have been much more had he played in the modern era.
Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq heaped praise on legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, saying the former India opener had done the unthinkable by scoring 10,000 runs in Test cricket.
Inzamam said many great players graced the game before Gavaskar. Some stalwarts like Javed Miandad and Viv Richards played in the little master’s era but none managed to breach the 10,000run mark.
“There were several great players in his era as well as before that. There were batsmen like Javed Miandad, Viv Richards, Garry Sobers, and Don Bradman but none of them thought to reach the figure. Even in today’s cricket when there is too much Test cricket, there are very few players who’ve achieved that feat,” Inzamam said on his YouTube channel.
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In March 1987, Gavaskar had become the first cricketer to score 10,000 Test runs in a Test match against Pakistan at Ahmedabad.
Inzamam said Gavaskar’s tally of runs would have been much more had he played in the modern era.
“If you ask me, I’ll say Sunil’s 10,000 runs of that era are equal to today’s 15,000 to 16,000 runs. These can be more than that but not less in anyway,” added Inzamam.
The former Pakistan captain, who himself amassed 8,830 runs in 120 Tests and 11739 runs in 378 ODIs, backed his statement by saying that wickets during Gavaskar’s time were not batting belters like modern days, it was much more difficult to score.
“If [as a batsman] your form is good you can even score 1000 to 1500 runs in a season. But when Sunil was batting, the situation was not like that. Today purely batting wickets are prepared so that you can continue scoring runs. The ICC also wants to see batsmen doing that so that spectators are entertained.
“But in the past wickets were not so easy to bat on, especially when you were playing outside the sub-continent,” Inzamam said.
12 more batsmen have gone on to score 10,000 or more runs since Gavaskar’s retirement. Currently, India’s Sachin Tendulkar leads the run-scoring chart with 15,921 runs in 200 Tests.
Gavaskar retired after playing one more Test against Pakistan in 1987. The great opener finished with 10122 runs in 125 Tests at an average of 51.12. His 34 hundreds were a record at that time too.
