Stats: Fastest to 1000 Test runs and its multiples
The longest format of the game is considered its most gruelling and testing form. The first official Test match took place between 15th and 19th March 1877 and was played between England and Australia at the MCG. 2387 test matches have been played since and as of today, twelve national teams have Test status, with Afghanistan and Ireland being the most recently promoted sides.
There have been many great batsmen in the past who have passed the ultimate test of character, technique, courage, skill, persistence and dedication on their way to crossing various milestones.
We take a look at the fastest to 1000 Test runs and its multiples below.
At present, the record of fastest to 1000 Test runs is held by Herbert Sutcliffe of England and Everton Weekes of West Indies. They both took 12 Test innings each to score a thousand Test runs. The record of being the fastest get to every multiple of a thousand from 2000 to 6000 Test runs is held by perhaps the greatest Test batsman ever, Sir Don Bradman.
Sir Don was the fastest to 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000 Test runs and ended his career with 6996 runs at an unmatched average of 99.94. Had Bradman played more matches, he would have been the fastest to reach even more multiples of 1000 runs.
Steve Smith of Australia recently broke Wally Hammond's record to become the fastest to reach 7000 runs. Kumar Sangakkara was the quickest to 8000 and 9000 Test runs. However, Brian Lara, along with Sachin Tendulkar and Sangakkara again, were the fastest to 10000 Test runs as they took 195 innings to breach the mark.
Continuing his excellent run of form, the Sri Lankan legend Sangakkara was the fastest to 11000 and 12000 Test runs as well.
Only four players have scored over 13000 Test runs with Sachin Tendulkar being the fastest. He reached there in 266 innings with Kallis, Ponting and Dravid taking 269, 275 and 277 respectively.
Tendulkar is the only player to have scored more than 14000 Test runs, and he retired in his 200th Test match with 15,921 runs at an average of 53.78.