Sunil Gavaskar reached 10,000 Test runs against Pakistan at Ahmedabad in March 1987, becoming the first batsman in history to cross the mark and recalibrating cricket's notion of longevity.
Gavaskar had been chasing the mark across the 1986-87 home season after passing 9,000 in Australia in 1985-86.
He came into the Ahmedabad Test 58 short and reached the figure on the third morning.
Gavaskar entered the Ahmedabad Test 58 runs short of the historic milestone. On the morning of day three he pushed Ejaz Faqih to mid-on for a single, raised his bat to the small crowd, and became the first man to 10,000 Test runs. He was 34 at the time, in his 124th Test, with 34 hundreds (later 34 — a record that stood until Sachin Tendulkar broke it in 2005). The achievement crowned a career that began in 1971 with 774 runs in his debut series in the Caribbean, and that survived the bouncer barrages of Lillee, Thomson, Holding, Roberts, Marshall, Garner, Imran and Hadlee. Gavaskar retired at the end of the year after a brilliant 96 against Pakistan in Bangalore and an unbeaten 188 in the MCC bicentenary match at Lord's. The 10,000 mark stood as the high-water mark of Test batting longevity for nearly two decades.
Push to mid-on off Ejaz Faqih
Lap of the ground in front of a small Ahmedabad crowd
Second-innings dismissal for 63
Crossing 10,000 in his 124th Test
Retirement nine months later
Test 1
1971, vs WI at Port of Spain
9,000
March 1985 vs Australia
Ahmedabad day 3
10,000 mark crossed
Bangalore Nov 1987
Final Test, 96 v Pakistan
“I owe everything I have to this game.”
“Sunny was the wall before the Wall.”
Gavaskar retired in November 1987 after the Reliance World Cup semi-final defeat to England.
The defining longevity record of his era — and the first time the five-figure barrier had been crossed.
His record of 34 Test hundreds stood until Tendulkar; the 10,000-run mark became the new gold standard, eventually broken by Border, Lara, Tendulkar and others.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.