On this day: Sachin Tendulkar crosses 30,000 international runs, scores 88th century

Sachin Tendulkar’s records are such that even though eight years have passed since he retired from international cricket, batsmen are yet to get anywhere close to them. He remains the highest run scorer in ODI and Test cricket by a fair distance and in international cricket, he remains the only batsman to have scored more than 30,000 runs, even though he crossed that mark on this day 12 years ago in a Test match against Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad.

The match itself ended up petering out into a draw with seven centuries scored between India and Sri Lanka on an unresponsive Motera track. India batted first and were all out for 426 with Rahul Dravid scoring 177 and captain MS Dhoni scoring 110. In response, Mahela Jayawardene led the way with a masterful 274 off 435 balls as Sri Lanka declared on 760/7.

With well over a session and a day remaining, India were left to bat as much as possible in order to save the match. After Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Dravid and night watchman Amit Mishra batted out about 80 overs, Tendulkar and VVS Laxman set up camp for an unbeaten 137-run partnership. Eventually, it became clear that Tendulkar’s century was the only thing left to play for as the hours ebbed away and sure enough, two balls after he scored his 43rd Test ton, stumps was called.

Tendulkar retired from international cricket four years later on 34,357 runs at an average of 48.52 in a staggering 664 matches. Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara came closest to crossing the mark, retiring on 28,016 runs in 594 matches. Among active cricketers, India’s Test and ODI captain Virat Kohli remains the highest international run scorer with 23,161 runs in 445 matches.