Sachin Tendulkar stands out among cricketers to have crossed 50,000 runs across all formats

Sachin Tendulkar is the first Indian batsman to achieve the feat © PTI

Sachin Tendulkar became the 16th batsman to complete 50,000 runs across all the three formats of the game. Sarang Bhalerao discusses the top run-getters across formats. 

Add Cricket Country as a Preferred Source

Sachin Tendulkar has added yet another feather to his illustrious cap. This time he became the 16th player to complete 50,000 runs in all formats of the game. The knock against Trinidad and Tobago in the semi-final of the Champions League Twenty 20 (CLT20) ensured that Mumbai Indians got a solid start to their run-chase of 154. Mumbai have now set up a final date with the Rajasthan Royals.

This was Tendulkar’s 953rd match (including First-Class cricket, List A format and Twenty20 games) in the 25 years of cricket that he has played.

Let us look at the list of batsmen who have compiled more than 50,000 runs:

*Conv rate is the conversion rate, which is the number of times the batsman has reached his century after reaching the half-century. It is the ratio of number of hundreds by the total number of times he has passed the score of fifty.

Graham Gooch is the leader with 67,057 runs in 1,194 matches. Jack Hobbs has scored 199 First-Class centuries and his conversion rate is the second best (0.42). The best conversion rate is that of Wally Hammond, who is placed 15th in the list. He achieved the mark of 50,000 runs in least number of innings compared to anyone. The list contains the names of the two West Indians: Gordon Greenidge and Viv Richards. Greenidge (53,703) and Richards (53,207) are laced ninth and tenth on the list. The duo represented West Indies with distinction in the Test and One-Day International (ODI) cricket.

However, one also has to consider the fact that Tendulkar appeared in domestic First-Class games fleetingly, while all the 15 other batsmen in the list played County cricket for a long time. Tendulkar is the only player who has played international cricket in all three formats. Tendulkar averages just under 50 and has 142 centuries across the formats. His conversion rate is 0.37 which is fifth in the list. He is also the only batsman from the sub-continent to feature in the list.

One wonders how many more records the Little Master is going to tumble in the coming days.

(Sarang Bhalerao hails from a family of doctors, but did his engineering. He then dumped a career in IT with Infosys to follow his heart and passion and became a writer with CricketCountry. A voracious reader, Sarang aspires to beat Google with his knowledge of the game! You can follow him on Twitter here)