Is Sachin back amongst runs?

Sachin Tendulkar became the fourth cricketer to surpass 9,000 Test runs when he reached 36 on the opening day of the fourth Test.

Sachin Tendulkar became only the fourth cricketer to surpass 9,000 Test runs when he crafted a confidence-building half century Friday on the opening day of the fourth Test between India and Australia.

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Tendulkar had scored only 82 runs in the three previous matches against Australia and started his 111th Test on 8,964 runs. He reached 9,000 with a single off paceman Jason Gillespie to take his total to 36 and remained unbeaten 73 as India reached stumps at 284 for three.

His progress to the milestone was slow in 2003. The usually prolific right-hander scored only 153 runs in five Tests at an average of 17 after undergoing surgery to repair damage in his left hand.

But Indian opener Akash Chopra, who was bowled for 45 by Brett Lee on Friday, was convinced Tendulkar had broken the shackles and the Australians would take the brunt of his return to form.

"Definitely, he makes up for his failures with a huge score, he's done it in the past and he's batting tremendously well on 73, so hopefully he'll have a very good score tomorrow," Chopra said.

Australian coach John Buchanan said Tendulkar was due to make a big score and his innings wouldn't distract the Australians.

"When you're averaging close to 60 and when you've been missing out for five or six innings, the law of averages suggests there's a big innings somewhere in the mix," said Buchanan.

"He's managed to stay at the crease longer than in previous innings in this series and has been able to accumulate runs, but in his own mind he won't say he's accumulated them in the best fashion."

The 30-year-old Tendulkar faced 156 balls in 202 minutes and hit 12 boundaries. He reached his 37th Test 50 with a three off Australian captain Stephen Waugh, one of three men ahead of him on the all-time scoring list.

Former Australian skipper Allan Border leads the standings with 11,174 Test runs, followed by Waugh, who had 10,807 going into his 168th Test, and India's Sunil Gavaskar, who scored 10,122 runs in 125 Tests.

Sachin Tendulkar: Facts and figures Tests Date/Venue Runs Opposition Milestone 1st 15 November, 1989, Karachi 15, DNB Pak Debut at 16 years 205 days 2nd 1989/90, Faislabad 59*, 8 Pak Scored his maiden fifty 3 rd 1989/90, Lahore 41. DNB Pak   4th 1989/90, Sialkot 35, 57 Pak   5 th 1989/90, Christchurch 0, 24 NZ   6 th 1989/90, Napier 88, DNB NZ   7 th 1989/90, Auckland 5, DNB NZ   8 th 1990, London 10, 27 Eng Became the youngest player to appear at Lord's 9 th 1990, Manchester 68, 119 Eng   10 th 1990, Oval 21, DNB Eng   11 th 1990/91, Chandigarh 11, DNB SL Played in his first home Test after 10 Tests abroad 12 th 1991/92, Brisbane 16, DNB Aus   13 th 1991/92, Melbourne 15, 40 Aus   14 th 1991/92, Sydney 148, DNB Aus Scored an unbeaten 148 15 th 1991/92, Adelaide 6, 17 Aus   16 th 1991/92, Perth 114, 5 Aus   17 th 1992/93, Harare 0, DNB Zim   18 th 1992/93, Durban 11, DNB SA   19 th 1992/93, Johannesburg 111, 1 SA Reached his 1000th run of his Test career 20 th 1992/93, Port Elizabeth 6, 0 SA   21 st 1992/93, Cape Town 73, DNB SA   22 nd 1992/93, Kolkata 50, 9* Eng   23 rd 1992/93, Chennai 165, DNB Eng   24 th 1992/93, Mumbai 78, DNB Eng   25 th 1992/93, Delhi 62, DNB Eng   26 th 1993/94, Kandy No Play SL   27 th 1993/94, Colombo 28, 104* SL   28 th 1993/94, Colombo 71, DNB SL   29 th 1993/94, Lucknow 142, DNB SL   30 th 1993/94, Bangalore 96, DNB SL   31 st 1993/94, Ahmedabad 6, DNB SL   32 nd 1993,94, Hamilton 43, 11* NZ Reached his 2000th run of his Test career 33 rd 1994/95, Mumbai 34, 45 WI   34 th 1994/95, Nagpur 179, 54 WI   35 th 1994/95, Chandigarh 40, 10 WI   36 th 1995/96, Bangalore 4, 0* NZ   37 th 1995/96, Chennai 52*, DNB NZ   38 th 1995, 96, Cuttack 2, DNB NZ   39 th 1996, Birmingham 24, 122 Eng   40 th 1996, London 31, DNB Eng   41 st 1996, Nottingham 177,74 Eng   42 nd 1996/97, Delhi 10, 0 Aus First Test as captain in his 42nd Test 43 rd 1996/97, Ahmedabad 42, 7 SA   44 th 1996/97, Kolkata 18, 2 SA   45 th 1996/97, Kanpur 61, 36 SA Reached his 3000th run of his Test career 46 th 1996/97, Durban 15, 4 SA   47 th 1996/97, Cape Town 169, 9 SA   48 th 1996/97, Johannesburg 35, 9 SA   49 th 1996/97, Kingston 7, 15* WI   50 th 1996/97, Port of Spain 88, DNB WI   51 st 1996/97, Bridgetown 92, 4 WI   52 nd 1996/97, St John’s DNB, DNB WI   53 rd 1996/97, Georgetown 83, DNB WI   54 th 1997/98, Colombo 143, DNB SL   55 th 1997/98, Colombo 139, 8 SL   56 th 1997/98, Chandigarh 23, DNB SL   57 th 1997/98, Nagpur 15, DNB SL   58 th 1997/98, Mumbai 148, 13 SL Reached his 4000th run of his Test career 59 th 1997/98, Chennai 4, 155* Aus   60 th 1997/98, Kolkata 79, DNB Aus   61 st 1997/98, Bangalore 177, 31 Aus   62 nd 1998/99, Harare 34, 7 Zim   63 rd 1998/99, Welllinton 47, 113 NZ   64 th 1998/99, Hamilton 67, DNB NZ   65 th 1998/99, Chennai 0, 136 Pak   66 th 1998/99, Delhi 6, 29 Pak   67 th 1998/99, Kolkata 0, 29 Pak Reached his 5000th run of his Test career 68 th 1998/99, Colombo 53, 124* SL   69 th 1999/00, Chandigarh 18, 126* NZ   70 th 1999/00, Kanpur 15, 44* NZ Claimed his 50th catch (Craig Spearman) in Tests 71 st 1999/00, Ahmedabad 217, 15 NZ Scored 217, his highest first-class score of his career. 72 nd 1999/00, Adelaide 61, 0 Aus   73 rd 1999/00, Melbourne 116, 52 Aus   74 th 1999/00, Sydney 45, 4 Aus   75 th 1999/00, Mumbai 97, 0 SA   76 th 1999/00, Bangalore 21, 20 SA Reached his 6000th run of his Test career 77 th 2000/01, Dhaka 18, DNB Bang   78 th 2000/01, Delhi 122, 39 Zim   79 th 2000/01, Nagpur 201*, DNB Zim   80 th 2000/01, Mumbai 76, 65 Aus   81 st 2000/01, Kolkata 10, 10 Aus   82 nd 2000/01, Chennai 126, 17 Aus   83 rd 2001, Bulawayo 74, 36* Zim   84 th 2001, Harare 20, 69 Zim   85 th 2001/02, Bloemfontein 155, 15 SA Reached his 7000th run of his Test career 86 th 2001/02, Port Elizabeth 1, 22* SA   87 th 2001/02, Chandigarh 88, DNB Eng   88 th 2001/02, Ahmedabad 103, 26 Eng   89 th 2001/02, Bangalore 90, DNB Eng   90 th 2001/02, Nagpur 176, DNB Zim   91 st 2001/02, Delhi 36, 42 Zim   92 nd 2001/02, Georgetown 79, DNB WI   93 rd 2001/02, Port of Spain 117, 0 WI   94 th 2001/02, Bridgetown 0, 8 WI   95 th 2001/02, St John’s 0, DNB WI   96 th 2001/02, Kingston 41, 86 WI Reached his 8000th run of his Test career 97 th 2002, London 16, 12 Eng   98th 2002, Nottingham 34, 92 Eng   99 th 2002, Leeds 193, DNB Eng Surpassed Sir Don Bradman's record of 29 centuries. 100 th 2002, London 54, DNB Eng Became the youngest ever cricketer to play 100 Tests. 101 st 2002, Mumbai 35, DNB WI   102 nd 2002, Chennai 43, 16* WI   103 rd 2002, Kolkata 36, 176 WI   104 th 2002, Wellington 8, 51 NZ   105 th 2002, Hamilton 9, 32 NZ   106 th 2003, Ahmedabad 8, 7 NZ   107 th 2003, Mohali 55, 1 NZ   108 th 2003, Brisbane 0, DNB Aus   109 th 2003, Adelaide Oval 1, 37 Aus   110 th 2003, Melbourne 0, 44 Aus   111 th 2004, Sydney 73*, DNB Aus Reached his 9000th run of his Test career