An awe inspiring estimate of Tendulkar
15 June 2001

Sachin Tendulkar will amass 20,480 runs and 81 centuries in the next 10 years if he maintains his present form, according to an assessment by Wisden Cricket Monthly.

In the past 27 months since February 1999, Tendulkar had piled up 1720 runs in 15 Tests at a near Bradmanesque average of 71.67, it said.

Should Tendulkar continue at that rate in the next decade, playing 12 Tests a year and finally hang up his boots at the age of 38, he will have amassed 20,480 and 81 centuries in 202 Tests.

His average will be a cool 66.06, placing him all alone on a unique second tier of champion batsmen - still behind Bradman (99.94) but distinctly ahead of Graeme Pollock, George Headley and Herbert Sutcliffe (60-odd), Wisden wrote.

The jury is still out on whether he would have outbudgeoned Don Bradman if he had been around in the run-thirsty 1930s, but the Indian maestro had two sweet statistics to savour on his 28th birthday in April, Wisden writes in a piece headlined "Tendulkar the Great (and getting greater)".

It went on to cite that Tendulkar's had been the 28 most prolific years and 27 of the most prodigious months in the history of batting.

Pointing out that on his birthday, Tendulkar's record in limited overs Internationals stood at 10,179 runs and 28 hundreds - twice as good as any one else at the same age, the magazine says that in Tests, his omnipotence is equally jaw-dropping. He was 1676 runs clear of the previous record held by Javed Miandad and his 25 Test centuries dwarf the 15 made at the same age by Bradman and Neil Harvey, his nearest rivals.

Wisden writes that average-wise Tendulkar still trails the Don who made 3849 runs at 98.69 by his 28th birthday. But even that gap was closing.

© PTI