Crowds reportedly increased on the second day of first test match between India and the West Indies when Sachin Tendulkar was about to bat. But he was out very soon. On the third day, Tendulkar compensated his fans by becoming the first batsman to score 15,000 runs.
Playing in his 182nd match, Tendulkar reached the landmarks 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.

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 adjudged 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)

Spinners Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha wreaked havoc on a turning track as India recorded one of their most convincing Test wins in recent times by thrashing New Zealand by an innings and 198 runs in third and final Test to clinch the three-match series 1-0 at Nagpur on Tuesday.

Both Harbhajan (3/56) and Ojha (2/67) got appreciable turn and bounce as the Black Caps batsmen literally struggled to stay put on a track that was suddenly looking difficult to bat on. There was sharp turn on offer and some of the balls were also keeping low.

If Harbhajan and Ojha decimated the top-order, Ishant Sharma (3/15) and Suresh Raina (2/1) blasted out the lower order as New Zealand were all out for 175 in only 51.2 overs.

Needing 349 runs to clear the first innings deficit, the visitors needed to show a lot of application but not having encountered appreciable turn and bounce in the previous matches meant that there wasn’t a lot of homework done.

The pressure was immense and Daniel Vettori’s men surrendered meekly with the match lasting barely three and half days.

Brendon McCullum (25), the double centurion of the last Test, on whom Vettori must have depended a lot went back in the 14th over as he missed a ball trying to play on the backfoot. It would have hit the leg stump and Simon Taufel made no mistake in ruling the batsman leg before.

Martin Guptill (0) who has had a woeful Test match saw a delivery from Ojha pitched on the leg stump and turn sharply towards the middle stump finding the batsman’s pads. Taufel took some time before raising his finger as Ojha was in with a hat-trick chance.

At 38 for three, New Zealand were looking down the barrel. Ross Taylor (29) tried to hit the spinners more out of desperation as the noose got tighter. Wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins – certainly not the best among the wicketkeeper batsman who are playing international cricket was the next man out.

NEW DELHI: After honouring Kapil Dev with honorary post of Lt. Colonel in the Territorial Army, star cricketer Sachin Tendulkar is likely to be honoured by the Indian Air Force by conferring on him an honorary Group Captain’s post. A proposal has been sent to the Defence Ministry for approval, report agencies.

“IAF has proposed to honour Sachin Tendulkar by granting him the honorary rank of Group Captain. We have sent the proposal to the Defence Ministry and they are considering it,” an IAF official said.

Once the Ministry clears it, the file will go to the Prime Minister’s Office and then to the President, the supreme commander of the armed forces, for approval, report againcies.

In 2008, India’s World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev had received the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel of the Territorial Army.

Tendulkar is arguably the best batsman in the history of cricket, having amassed some 31,000-plus runs in Test and ODI cricket with a staggering 93 international centuries under his belt.

The 37-year-old is hailed as perhaps the most complete batsman in the history of the game with no real chink in armour. He not only the highest run-getter in both Test and ODI versions of the game but also the only player to have scored a double century in a One-Day International.

One of India’s most decorated sportspersons, Tendulkar has won the country’s highest sports honour — the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna — and the Padma Vibhushan award.

The IAF had earlier conferred the honorary rank of air commodore on industrialist and aviation enthusiast Vijaypat Singhania.