Sunil Gavaskar's 10000 runs are worth 15000 runs in modern cricket: Inzamam-ul-Haq

Karachi, July 17: Sunil Gavaskar was the first batsman to reach the 10000 runs mark in Test cricket history in 1987. Gavaskar breached the barrier that once perceived as impossible against Pakistan.

Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq said the 10000 runs scored by Gavaskar worth 15000 runs in modern day cricket if not more.

"There were several great players in his era as well as before that. There were batsmen like Javed Miandad, Viv Richards, Garry Sobers, and Don Bradman but none of them thought to reach the figure. Even in today's cricket when there is too much Test cricket, there are very few players who've achieved that feat," Inzamam said in his YouTube channel.

"If you ask me, I'll say Sunil's 10,000 runs of that era are equal to today's 15,000 to 16,000 runs. These can be more than that but not less in anyway," said Inzamam.

Inzamam said the worth of Gavaskar's runs has been accentuated by the fact that it was not easy to bat in the pitches of those days unlike the modern-day tracks, tailor-made for batsmen.

"If [as a batsman] your form is good you can even score 1000 to 1500 runs in a season. But when Sunil was batting, the situation was not like that. Today purely batting wickets are prepared so that you can continue scoring runs. The ICC also wants to see batsmen doing that so that spectators are entertained.

"But in the past wickets were not so easy to bat on, especially when you were playing outside the sub-continent," Inzamam said.

Gavaskar retired from all forms of cricket after the series against Pakistan in 1987. He played his last Test match at the M Chinnaswamy stadium where he bowed out with a masterly 96 on a crumbling pitch against Pakistan spinners. India had lost that Test by a narrow margin of 16 runs. Gavaskar made 10122 runs from 125 Tests at an average of 51.12.