India's Yashasvi Jaiswal notched up a milestone by becoming one of the fastest to 1000 Test runs among Indians this week.
England’s Herbert Sutcliffe and West Indies’ Everton Weekes jointly hold the record for the fastest to 1000 runs in Test cricket. Sutcliffe achieved the feat against Australia back in 1925 in Melbourne. Weekes, on the other hand, equalled Sutcliffe’s record 24 years later in 1949 against India at the Brabourne Stadium.
Both Sutcliffe and Weekes reached the landmark in the 12th innings of the 9th Test. In the last 7 decades, several batters have threatened to break the record, but they fell short. Indian batters have also raced to the 1000-run landmark in double in quick time.
Fastest to 1000 Test runs in Indian cricket
Vinod Kambli
Vinod Kambli holds the record for the fastest Indian batter to score 1000 runs in Tests. The left-handed batter got to the landmark in the 14th innings of his 12th Test match against the West Indies back in November 1994 at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
In the 1st innings of the Test match, Kambli achieved the feat while batting at No.3. He scored 40 runs off 39 balls with 7 fours before Courtney Walsh accounted for his wicket.
Kambli failed to open his account in the second innings after Kenny Benjamin dismissed him. India went on to win the match by 96 runs and take a 1-0 lead in the 3-match series.
Although Kambli made a positive start to his Test career, he could not hold on to his spot in the national team. In 17 Tests, Kambli scored 1084 runs at an average of 54.20 with 4 hundreds and 3 fifties to show for his efforts.
YASHASVI JAISWAL HAS SCORED MOST RUNS IN A TEST SERIES FOR INDIA IN THIS CENTURY. 🤯
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) March 7, 2024
– He broke the record of Kohli's 692. pic.twitter.com/9rwZoEQqAH
Yashasvi Jaiswal
Yashasvi Jaiswal recently became the second-fastest Indian to the landmark of 1000 runs in Test cricket. The southpaw accomplished the feat in the 5th and final Test against England at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala.
The left-handed batter reached the milestone in his 16th innings on Day 1 of the Test match. The youngster scored 57 runs off 58 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes before off-spinner Shoaib Bashir accounted for his wicket.
Jaiswal has made a stupendous start to his Test career. After making his debut in the purest format against the West Indies last year, he has grown leaps and bounds. He is currently the leading run-scorer in the Test series against England.
Having also racked up double hundreds in Vizag and Rajkot, Jaiswal has given glimpses into a bright future. On the back of his impressive showing in red-ball cricket, he also broke into the top 10 of the Test batting rankings for the first time in his career.
The 21-year-old Jaiswal has also shown a lot of versatility as he has done well even in T20s and 50-over format.
Cheteshwar Pujara
Cheteshwar Pujara made an incredible start to his Test career and he is 3rd in the list of fastest Indian batters to the landmark of 1000 runs in Test cricket. Pujara reached the milestone in the 18th innings of his 11th Test against Australia back in March 2013 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
Pujara had a dream Test as he won the Player of the Match award after India beat the Aussies by an innings and 135 runs. In the 1st innings, Pujara scored 204 runs off 341 balls with the help of 30 fours and a six. On the back of his knock, India took a lead of 266 runs.
After India won, they also took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the 4-match series. From there on, Pujara kept scaling heights and is also one of the Indians to have played over 100 Test matches.
Although he is out of the current Indian setup, Pujara will be known for his grit and resilience in the middle. In 103 Tests, Pujara has scored 7195 runs at an average of 43.60 with 19 hundreds and 35 fifties to his knock.
Mayank Agarwal
Mayank Agarwal is currently 4th in the list of fastest Indian batters to have got to the landmark of 1000 runs in Test cricket. The Karnataka batter reached the milestone in the 19th innings of his 11 Test against Australia back in December 2020 at the Adelaide Oval.
Overall, Agarwal and India did not have the best of outings. India lost the match by 8 wickets after being restricted to 36 in their second innings. Agarwal scored 17 runs in the 1st innings before Pat Cummins removed him.
In the 2nd innings, he scored a laborious 9 off 40 balls before Josh Hazlewood ended his painful vigil in the middle. After years of grinding in domestic cricket, Agarwal made his Test debut at the MCG back in December 2018.
In 21 Tests in his career, Agarwal scored 1488 runs at an average of 41.33 and a strike-rate of 53.48 with 4 hundreds and 6 fifties to his name. He racked up his top score of 243 against Bangladesh back in November 2019 at the Holkar Stadium in Indore.
Agarwal last played a Test for India back in March 2022 against Sri Lanka at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Sunil Gavaskar
The legendary Sunil Gavaskar, who made several records for India during his playing days, is 5th in the list of fastest Indian batters to the milestone. The Little Master reached 1000 Test runs in the 21st innings of his 11th Test against England back in January 1973 in Kanpur.
Gavaskar scored 69 runs off 183 balls in the 1st innings with 10 fours before Jack Birkenshaw dismissed him. In the 2nd innings, Derek Underwood got his wicket after he made 24 off 46 balls.
Ashwin joins list of players with 1000 runs and 100 wickets against a team in Tests
In his Test career, Gavaskar scored 10122 runs from 125 matches at an average of 51.12 with 34 hundreds and 45 fifties. In fact, Gavaskar holds the distinction for becoming the 1st batter in history to score 10,000 runs in Tests.
He was also an effective batter in ODIs, scoring 3092 runs from 108 matches with a hundred and 27 fifties to his name.
