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Tendulkar misses 'rare occasion' to get 10,000
Had India batted first, Sachin could've reached the mark a day after the 18th anniversary of when Sunil Gavaskar did it.
Had India batted first in the opening cricket Test against Pakistan on Tuesday, maestro Sachin Tendulkar could have achieved a rate feat — scoring 10,000 runs, a day after the 18th anniversary of the mark set by Sunil Gavaskar.
This, of course, was predicated on Tendulkar scoring 121 to become the world's fifth batsman to reach the magic mark.
It would have been a rare occasion for any batsman's 10,000th-run anniversary being followed by the arrival of a new member in the 10,000th-run club. This has never happened in Test history.
Gavaskar became the first batsmen in Test history to score 10,000 runs and that milestone came March 7, 1987 during the Ahmedabad Test against Pakistan.
Tendulkar, playing his 121st Test in Mohali, has so far scored 9,879 runs at 57.43, against Gavaskar's 10,122 runs at 51.12 in 125 Tests.
That series eventually turned out to be the last one of Gavaskar's illustrious career, as the 'Little Master' announced his retirement.
Tendulkar is currently placed fifth in the list of batsmen with the highest career aggregate, led by Australia's Allan Border with 11,174 in 156 Tests. Border is followed by Steve Waugh (10,927 in 168 Tests), Gavaskar and Brian Lara (10,094 in 112 Tests).
But Ganguly is not to be blamed if Tendulkar did not get to score the crucial 121 runs. The captain's decision to bat first was prompted by a pitch that had a greenish top and it looked as if it would assist the pace bowlers.
Had Tendulkar score those 121 runs, it would have also made him the sole owner of the world Test centuries record. At present he is tied with Gavaskar at 34 hundreds.
