Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has heaped praise on Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar, saying the former India opener had achieved the unthinkable feat by completing 10,000 runs in Test cricket during his playing days.
Inzamam said many great players like Javed Miandad, Viv Richards, Gary Sobers and Don Bradman graced the game before Gavaskar or in the Little Master’s era but none managed to reach the 10,000-run mark in Tests.
“There were several great players in his era as well as before that. There were batsmen like Javed Miandad, Viv Richards, Garry Sobers, and Don Bradman but none of them thought to reach the figure. Even in today’s cricket when there is too much Test cricket, there are very few players who’ve achieved that feat,” Inzamam said on his YouTube channel.
On 7th March 1987, Gavaskar became the first batsman ever to score 10,000 Test runs. He achieved the feat in a match against Pakistan at Ahmedabad.
Inzamam also said Gavaskar’s tally of runs would have been much more had he played in the modern era.
“If you ask me, I’ll say Sunil’s 10,000 runs of that era are equal to today’s 15,000 to 16,000 runs. These can be more than that but not less in any way,” added Inzamam.
The former Pakistan captain, who himself clubbed 8,830 runs in 120 Tests and 11,739 runs in 378 ODIs, backed his statement by saying that wickets during Gavaskar’s time were not batting paradise-like modern days.
“If [as a batsman] your form is good you can even score 1000 to 1500 runs in a season. But when Sunil was batting, the situation was not like that. Today purely batting wickets are prepared so that you can continue scoring runs. The ICC also wants to see batsmen doing that so that spectators are entertained.
“But in the past wickets were not so easy to bat on, especially when you were playing outside the sub-continent,” Inzamam added further.
Gavaskar retired after playing 125 Tests for India. The Mumbaikar finished with 10,122 runs at an average of 51.12. Also, his record of 34 Test centuries stood for almost two decades before ‘Master Blaster’ Sachin Tendulkar surpassed it in December 2005.
