Sunil Gavaskar recalled the magical moment when he became the first batter in Test history to reach 10,000 runs which happened in Ahmedabad Test against Pakistan in 1987 and revealed that captain Kapil Dev somehow managed to get champagne for celebrations despite Gujarat being a dry state.
Gavaskar’s comments came after Joe Root became the 14th batter to reach the 10,000-run milestone, recently against New Zealand during the first Test at Lord’s. The 31-year-old Yorkshire player, became the second England player after his former teammate, Alastair Cook, to reach the landmark.
The record for most runs in Tests is held by Sachin Tendulkar, who made 15921 runs in 200 Tests.
However, Sunil Gavaskar was the first batter to two milestones that had never been achieved in Test cricket, the first to get to 9,000 Test runs and then the Mt. Everest of 10,000 Test runs.
The Ahmedabad Test against Pakistan was one of the last matches that Gavaskar played in his career and scored 63 runs in that innings. He reached 10,000 runs when he got to the 58-run mark.
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Gavaskar had told The Indian Express about the 'magical' moment, saying he was peeking at the scoreboard before putting himself within touching distance of the landmark.
He said: “I knew that I needed 57 runs. I normally don’t look at the scoreboard. But once you reach a 50, you get applause. At that stage you realise. If I’m not mistaken I got to my 50 with a single. So I was aware that now 7 more runs.
Once you get to that 10,000 it is absolutely magical. Magical because it had not been done before. Even 9,000 had not been done before, and I did it. But 9,000 is a four-digit number. 10,000 is a five-digit number, so it was almost like climbing Mt Everest for the first time."
The former India captain revealed how Kapil Dev arranged champagne to celebrate the historic moment despite the match was being played in Ahmedabad in Gujarat, a dry state since its inception six decades ago.
“It was a slightly dazed feeling. But the thing I remember most is that we were in Ahmedabad. And it’s a dry place. But Kapil somehow managed to get some champagne! That was amazing. He was the captain, and he organized, with special permission, of course, to get some champagne,” said Gavaskar.
