http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rahul-c83321 Dravid completes 12,000 Runs in Tests
Every cricketer dreams of playing Test cricket. Every batsman who does manage to play test cricket wants to score as many runs as possible. India’s Rahul Dravid is one of the elite test cricketers who not only have managed to score runs
when it mattered but also become the third batsman ever to score 12,000 runs in test cricket. He did so on the fourth day of the first test between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 at Centurion.
By scoring his 43rd run in the second innings, he became the third batsman after compatriot Sachin Tendulkar and Australia’s Ricky Ponting to cross the barrier. His feat is the fastest in terms of days since Tendulkar scored his 12000th run when his career
was 18 years and 337 days old. Ricky Ponting had spent 14 years and 225 days as a test cricketer when he managed to join the club. But Dravid, who made his debut against England on June 20th 1996 and scored 95 runs in his first outing, managed to do it in
14 years and 173 days. Ponting took the least number of matches - 146 - to reach the milestone while Dravid took 148 and Tendulkar featured in 152 matches to reach 12000 runs.
So far, only 8 batsmen have managed to score more than 10 thousand runs in Test cricket. Sachin Tendulkar of India leads the pack with nearly 14,500 runs in 175 matches at an average of 57. Australian skipper Ricky Ponting is at number 2 with 12,333 runs
in 151 matches at 54 followed by Dravid with 12000 runs in 148 matches at 53. West Indian legend Brian Lara scored 11,953 runs in tests which once was the record by any batsman in the longest version of the game. South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis comes
at number 5 with 11,650 runs in 143 matches at 57 while former Aussie skippers Allan Border and Steve Waugh come at number 6 and 7 respectively with 11,174 runs in 156 tests at 50 and 10,927 runs in 168 tests at 51 respectively. India’s Sunil Gavaskar, who
was the first batsman to break the 10,000-run barrier stands at number 8 with 10,122 runs in just 125 matches at an average of 51.
Also known as The Wall for his airtight defence, Rahul Dravid is at ease wherever he is batting. Unlike the Indian side which does well at home but not abroad, Dravid has managed to score against all the test playing nations, be it at home or abroad. He
has scored centuries against each and every test playing nation and has given his best with the toughest of oppositions. He has scored 1972 runs against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 he has managed 560 runs at 70,
taken the English bowlers for 1489 runs at 57 in 17 matches, massacred Kiwis with 1659 runs at 53 and scored 1236 runs at 53 including his test-best of 270 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755. Dravid has scored 1189 runs against South Africa in 19 matches at 36, managed 1508
runs at 49 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045.
He is one of the few batsmen in the world who have scored more than 30 centuries in tests. Amongst the current batsmen, only Sachin Tendulkar with 49, Ricky Ponting with 39 and Jacques Kallis with 38 have more centuries than Dravid’s 31. Some believe that
Dravid might be past his best and they might be right since Dravid is just shy of his 38th birthday. Yet he continues to score runs like any youngster and it doesn’t seem that bowlers all over the world will see the back of him sometime soon.
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