A decades-old video of the two greats of Indian cricket is breaking the internet. The video shows Sunil Gavaskar predicting a young Sachin Tendulkar’s remarkable Test career.
Back in the days when Sachin started to play for India, the legend Gavaskar was one of the forerunners who praised his technique and work rate and predicted him to be the future of Indian cricket.
Often known as the ‘Little Master’, Gavaskar was then India’s highest Test run-getter, a record that was broken by Sachin himself, years later.
Gavaskar predicted that Sachin Tendulkar would go on to play most Tests for India and score 15,000 runs alongside 40 international centuries. He also had jokingly issued an ultimatum for Sachin to do so, or else he would strangle him for disappointing him as well as the nation.
“And I for one know that if, at the end of his career, he does not get a minimum of 15,000 runs and 40 Test centuries, I shall personally go and strangle him. Twenty years down the line, my hands will not have strength, so he might still survive, but I will deputize somebody to do that for me,” Gavaskar said with a laughing tone.
To this, Sachin replied, “I will be trying my level best.”.
Eventually, the little boy then went on to be the Master Blaster of Indian cricket and held innumerable record in World Cricket.
Sachin still has many frontline records that seem unbreakable, including 100 international centuries as well as 18000+ international ODI runs.
Sachin ended his 24-year-long international career in the longest format of the game against the West Indies. He remains the all-time great with 15921 Test runs and 51 centuries, as he kept his word to the former legend.
Joe Root has been predicted to break Sachin’s all-time highest Test run record
England batter Joe Root is often considered the best among the Fab4 batters in the longest format of the game. Root’s temperament and his composure in the longest format of the game seem to be endeavouring.
Root, recently, went past the likes of great Kumara Sangakara among the highest test run-getters. He went past 12,400 runs in the second innings of the Oval Test against Sri Lanka.
Aussie legend Ricky Ponting, also the second-highest run-getter in the format, has predicted Root to replace the great Sachin Tendulkar as the lead run-getter. However, he is 3500+ runs behind the living legend.
In the last edition of the World Cup, Indian great Virat Kohli broke Sachin’s record for most ODI tons, as he scored the 50th international One-Day hundred, one more than Sachin’s all-time 49 international ODI centuries.
However, the legend’s records of highest ODI runs and highest overall runs—34000+ international runs—still seem untouchable.
