“I shall personally go and strangle him”: Sunil Gavaskar, in 1995, had stated he’d strangle Sachin Tendulkar if he fails to score 15,000 runs and 40 Test centuries

During team India’s first Test match of the series against hosts Bangladesh in the year 2004, the legendary and one of all-time great batters, Sachin Tendulkar, had equalled another Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar’s record of scoring 34 Test centuries – the highest-ever tally back during the day.

An emotional Gavaskar had decided to gift Tendulkar a crate of 34 champagne bottles upon reaching the landmark. A year later, in December 2005, he eventually went past Gavaskar’s tally which no one had managed to surpass for some good 22 years, during India’s second Test against Sri Lanka at New Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium.

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During the post-match presentation, he was even gifted a Gold watch for becoming the only player on planet with 35 Test centuries under his belt.

Sunil Gavaskar had stated he’d strangle Sachin Tendulkar if he failed to score 15,000 runs and 40 Test centuries

Exactly a decade ago the aforementioned landmark moment for Sachin Tendulkar, Gavaskar had set the former a huge target which seemed nearly impossible for a cricketer to achieve.

In the year 1995, after having retired from the game and commenced providing his services in the commentary panel, Gavaskar had taken the interview of a 22-year-old Tendulkar, who had mere eight Test tons under his name during the time.

The ‘Little Master’ had remarked during the interview that if Sachin did not manage to score at least 15,000 runs and smashed 40 Test centuries by the end of his career, he would personally go and strangle him.

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He then hilariously went on to add that while he would perhaps still survive the strangle hold twenty years from now, he would certainly deputize someone to do the job.

A humble Sachin just responded to him with the remark that he’d be trying his best to live up to his expectations.

The batting legend not only went on to smash 51 Test centuries, but as promised, also breached the 15,000-run tally, by amassing 15,921 Test runs in his career.