“Everyone remembers the first man to climb the Everest.” Sunil Gavaskar knew that 10,000 was special.

March 7, 1987. After 16 years of service to the game, on the third afternoon of the Ahmedabad Test match, Gavaskar late cut Ijaz Faqih and ran down the pitch with his bat raised high.

For someone claimed not to watch the scoreboard while batting, Gavaskar was well aware of the runs against his name. He was edgy as well. He had every right to be. He was about to become the first man whose collection of Test runs ran into five figures. That brace he got with the fine deflection got him his 10,000th Test run.

As the crowd celebrated, a placard read: “Many more thousands to come.” Gavaskar was 37.

He fell for 63 that day. When asked about the message in the placard at the end of the day during a television interview, the master merely smiled. Rather inscrutably.

He played one more Test after that, and his final tally stood at 10,122.

Text: Arunabha Sengupta

Illustration: Maha