Sachin Tendulkar’s Remarkable Test Stats is Quite an Achievement

Over a span of 24 years (1989 – 2014) , Sachin Tendulkar has displayed some exceptional batting masterclass and have quite deservedly earned the nickname ‘master blaster’, ‘god of cricket’ etc. This article showcases his journey and stats in Test Cricket.

Early Start

Sachin made his test debut as a teenager against Pakistan at Karachi in 1989. Barely 16 years and 7 months, he was facing the fearsome pace attack of Waqar Younis, legendary spin of Abdul Qadir and Imran Khan. Though he managed to score only 15 runs before being bowled off an in-swinger of Waqar, he would go on to rewrite cricket history.

However in the 2nd Test of the series, Sachin scored a maiden fifty, with a gritty 59 before being out to Imram Khan. Though the series ended in a draw, in the final test, Sachin in-spite of being hit by a Waqar Younis bouncer, stayed on and scored his 2nd fifty of the series. It was a sign of the strength and resolve that was to be an everlasting part of his character.

First Century

Overall Test Stats

Overall

Tests	Innings	Runs	Hundred	Fifties	Top Score	Avg Inns
200	329	15921	51	68	248*	53.79

Tendulkar actually wanted to be a fast bowler and also went to the MRF pace academy to pursue that. However he was dissuaded by the great Dennis Lillee who instead advised Tendulkar to focus on his batting. The rest is history.

Runs by Home/Away

By Home/Away

H/A	Tests	Innings	Runs	Hundred	Fifty	Avg
Home	96	156	7480	24	32	53.81
Away	103	173	8441	27	36	53.76

Sachin Tendulkar impressive record is also important for the fact that it didn’t matter whether he played tests at home or away. The location simply didn’t matter, the runs scored, centuries are almost identical – in fact he has scored more hundred and fifties outside of India.

Sachin – Top 5 Test Scores

Though Sachin couldn’t add a triple century to his tally, he did score few double hundred during his entire career. His last two double hundred came during the end of his career (one against SriLanka and the other against Australia.

Top 5 Batting Scores

Year	Trophy	City	Innings	Score	Result
2004	Bangladesh v India – 1st Test	Dhaka	1st	248*	India won by an innings and 140 runs
2004	Border-Gavaskar Trophy	Sydney	1st	241*	Match drawn
1999	India v New Zealand – 3rd Test	Ahmedabad	1st	217	Match drawn
2010	Border-Gavaskar Trophy	Bengaluru	1st	214	India won by 7 wickets
2010	Sri Lanka v India – 2nd Test	Colombo	1st	203	Match drawn

Tendulkar Test Stats – by Team

By Teams

Team	Tests	Innings	Runs	Hundred	Top Score	Home Avg	Away Avg
Aus	39	74	3630	11	241*	56.91	53.21
Ban	7	9	820	5	248*	132	139
Eng	32	53	2535	7	193	48	54.31
NZ	24	39	1595	4	217	44.29	49.53
Pak	18	27	1057	2	194*	44.15	40.25
SA	25	45	1741	7	169	36.25	46.44
SL	24	36	1995	9	203	52.5	67.94
WI	21	32	1630	3	179	59.41	47.69
Zim	9	14	918	3	201*	113	40

22% of Tendulkar’s runs were against Australia and he has also scored the most number of centuries against Australia – no wonder the Aussies have utmost respect whenever they were up against Sachin.

Test Runs in Calendar Year

Though Sachin was barely 17 when he started playing for India, it was only in the late 90s that he came to his own. From the mid 90s, he was in great form and was consistently scoring runs both in ODI and Tests and was looked upon by millions of Indians as the only player who could turn the match around those days.

In the last decade around 2008 to 2010 , he had another spurt in his scoring, coming back fro injury and showed that experience does count. In 2010 he scored 7 centuries and made 1500+ runs in that calendar year.

By Year

Year	Tests	Innings	Runs	Hundreds	Home Avg/Inn	Away Avg/Inn
1997	12	17	1000	4	49.75	66.75
1999	10	19	1088	5	61.5	78.83
2001	10	18	1003	3	61.1	65.33
2002	16	26	1392	4	80	46.22
2008	13	25	1063	4	50.18	46.45
2010	14	23	1562	7	83.83	69.5

Test Dismissals

The contests between Tendulkar and James Anderson (England), Murlaitharan (Sri Lanka) and Glenn McGrath (Australia) were a treat to watch for the cricketing fans. It would be as much a duel of skill as also a game of mental skills whenever these guys used to feature together. It would be treat to watch – though Anderson with beautiful swing bowling did account for Sachin’ wicket 9 times.

Sachin was so sure of his footwork to the spinners that he was left short of the crease while steeping out only once – only 1 time was he was stumped in his entire career.

Test Captaincy Stats

Though Sachin wasn’t a great captain and manged a 16% win rate during his captaincy, his batting wasn’t affected. He did score at an average of 51 while shouldering the responsibility of captaincy.

Win/Loss as Captain

Tests	Won	Lost	Draw	Tied
25	4	9	12	0

As Captain

Tests	Innings	Runs	Hundred	Fifties	Top Score	Avg Inns
25	43	2054	7	7	217	51.35

During his span of 24 long and excellent years, Sachin Tendulkar played a record 200 Test matches for India scoring 15921 runs and is forever etched in the cricket ‘Hall of Fame’.

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