Sachin Tendulkar broke and made several records in his illustrious cricket career which stand safe even seven years after his retirement. One of those feats came on this very day (November 20) in 2009. Playing against Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad, the legendary batsman became the first player on the planet to complete 30,000 runs in international cricket. It was the opening Test of the series, and visitors were on the driver’ seat for the majority of the game. Tendulkar failed to make an impact in the first innings as he fell prey to Chanaka Welegedara for just four runs. This Day That Year: Sachin Tendulkar Made his Test Debut in Karachi Against Pakistan.

Although centuries from Rahul Dravid and MS Dhoni helped India post 426 in the first innings, the Lankans tightened grip over the match by piling up a mountain of 760 runs. Trailing by 334 runs in the first innings, the home team had to bat throughout the fourth and fifth day to save the Test match. With the likes of Muttiah Muralitharan and Rangana Herath operating with the ball, the task was never going to be easy for MS Dhoni’s men. This Day That Year: Sachin Tendulkar Scores Maiden International Hundred.

Nevertheless, they got off to an impressive start with opener Gautam Gambhir scoring century while Virender Sehwag scored a fiery fifty. With Rahul Dravid getting dismissed near the end of fourth day’s play, Amit Mishra walked out as night watchman as Tendulkar was saved to fifth in the final day.

Although the leg-spinner showcased great resilience, Angelo Mathwes dismissed him for 24 and walked in the Master Blaster – approaching a never reached milestone. Despite failing in the first innings, the legendary batsman looked positive and determined to make a mark. He respected the good deliveries while the lose ones were dispatched for runs.

History was created in the 89th over of Indian innings where Tendulkar clipped an inswinger from Welegedara to deep square leg for a single - his 35th run of the innings – and became the first batsman to reach 30K international runs. He even went on to score a brilliant century as India managed to seize a draw.

Tendulkar further went on to score more than 4000 international runs after the match – finishing career with 34357 runs including 100 centuries. He still remains the only batsman to cross the 30,000 international run-mark with Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara sitting at second place with 28016 runs.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 20, 2020 01:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).