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OTD in 2009: When Sachin Tendulkar completed 30000 runs with 43rd Test century

Aakash Saini

Sachin Tendulkar [Source: @Shebas_10dulkar/x]Sachin Tendulkar [Source: @Shebas_10dulkar/x]

Cricket has witnessed many major landmarks, but only a few moments feel monumental long before the numbers are even spoken. For Sachin Tendulkar, such moments became a routine, especially during the latter part of his illustrious career. For over two decades, the legendary Indian batter did not just amass runs and won matches, he pushed the sport to rethink what greatness could look like.

One of such moments occurred exactly on this day, 16 years ago at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad. Out for just four in the first innings of India’s series-opening first Test against the visiting Sri Lankan team in November 2009, Sachin Tendulkar carved out his 43rd century in the second to ensure a fighting high-scoring draw for Team India.

When Sachin Tendulkar saved India, slammed 43rd ton, and scaled 30k

Team India hosted Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad in the first Test of three-match series back in November 2019. At the halfway stage, the hosts found themselves 334 runs behind Sri Lanka despite aggregating 426 in the first innings.

Left with a mountain to climb with a day-and-a-half still remaining in the match, India batted out the remainder of 129 overs to get to 412-4 to ensure a draw. Apart from centurion Gautam Gambhir and half-centurions Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid; Sachin Tendulkar was another one of major architects behind India’s great escape.

The legendary Indian batter washed up 211 deliveries to score 100* with 11 elegant boundaries. Notably, when Sachin Tendulkar reached 35* in the innings, the ‘Master Blaster’ also completed 30,000 runs in international cricket, a feat no other cricketer has even dared to match to this day.

After crafting his 43rd Test century, the all-time great added eight more tons to his tally, finished his Test haul with 15,921 runs to aggregate 34,357 runs overall across all international formats, the highest by a landslide.