Sachin Tendulkar crosses 15000 runs mark in Test cricket

Sachin Tendulkar on Tuesday achieved another milestone as he became the first cricketer in the history of the game to cross 15000 runs mark in Test cricket.

Playing in his 182nd match, Tendulkar reached the mark on the third day of the first Test against the West Indies when he scored his 28th run in India's second innings with a single off leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo.

After crossing the coveted milestone, the batting maestro looked up at the heavens and acknowledged the standing ovation given by his teammates from the dressing room as his partner Rahul Dravid congratulated him.

Sachin Tendulkar's Test milestones - 1,000 to 15,000

Runs	Tests	Innings	Opponents	Venue	Series	Time Taken
1000	19	28	South Africa	Johannesburg	1992-93	3y 11d
2000	32	44	New Zealand	Hamilton	1993-94	4y 124d
3000	45	67	South Africa	Kanpur	1996-97	7y 23d
4000	58	86	Sri Lanka	Mumbai	1997-98	8y 18d
5000	67	103	Pakistan	Kolkata	1998-99	9y 93d
6000	76	120	South Africa	Bangalore	1999-00	10y 108d
7000	85	136	South Africa	Bloemfontein	2001-02	11y 353d
8000	96	154	West Indies	Kingston	2001-02	12y 184d
9000	111	179	Australia	Sydney	2003-04	14y 48d
10000	122	195	Pakistan	Kolkata	2004-05	15y 121d
11000	139	223	England	Nottingham	2007	17y 254d
12000	152	247	Australia	Mohali	2008-09	18y 337d
13000	163	266	Bangladesh	Chittagong	2009-10	20y 63d
14000	171	279	Australia	Bangalore	2010-11	20y 328d
15000	182	300	West Indies	Delhi	2011-12	21y 358d

The West Indian players also came up after the completion of the over to congratulate the iconic batsman.

Tendulkar was 35 runs short of 15,000 before this match and he scored seven in the first innings before being adjidged leg-before off Fidel Edwards.

With 14,422 crowd cheering him, Tendulkar, who came in at the fall of Virender Sehwag's wicket when the team total was 95 for two, played cautiously with India needing 276 runs to win the match.

He hit just two fours after facing 76 balls to reach 28. The 38-year-old Tendulkar, the world's most prolific batsman, now needs just one hundred to complete a historic 100 international tons. He has scored 51 Test tons and 48 ODI hundreds.

Rahul Dravid, who was batting at the other end with Tendulkar, is the second highest run-getter in Tests with 12,775 runs before this match while Australian Ricky Ponting is third on the list with 12487 runs.

Top run-getters in Test cricket (minimum 10,000 runs)

15,005* - Sachin Tendulkar (IND)

12,859* - Rahul Dravid (IND)

12,487 - Ricky Ponting (AUS)

11,953 - Brian Lara (WIS)

11,947 - Jacques Kallis (RSA)

11,174 - Allan Border (AUS)

10,927 - Steve Waugh (AUS)

10,122 - Sunil Gavaskar (IND)