Rahul Dravid was 15 years old when Sunil Gavaskar became the first Test batsman to score 10,000 Test runs. “I can still recall the Gavaskar late-cut in Ahmedabad and him raising his bat,” he said.

On Saturday, March 29 — 21 years after watching Gavaskar’s feat on television — Dravid was raising his arms on reaching the same landmark.

Interestingly, he conquered Mount 10,000 in four Tests less than Gavaskar. He also got there much sooner than the other members of this elite club — Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Sachin Tendulkar.

Only Brian Lara, the bat-weilding magician, got to the magical five digits sooner than Dravid — 111 Test matches as compared to 120.

Resuming at an overnight score of 65 on the fourth day of the first Test against South Africa, Dravid needed just 23 runs to take his tally to 10,000.

The packed MA Chidambaram Stadium, on a high after watching Sehwag’s record-blazing triple century yesterday, got to witness another bit of history today.

Though Dravid’s innings of 111 paled in comparison to the opener’s entertaining knock, the crowd stood up in respect for Dravid. It was the acknowledgment of the batsman’s glorious achievements in Test cricket over the last decade. When Dravid returned to the pavilion, after a typically composed century, his overall tally stood at 10,031 runs (if the Super Series Test against Australia is included, or 10,008 for the sticklers).

As a top-order batsman, who even opened for India apart from playing at number three on 150 occasions, consistency has been Dravid’s biggest USP.

... contd.