If you look at the career stats of most international batsmen with regard to runs scored in international cricket,  it looks imposing especially those who have played cricket over a long period of time from Sunil Gavaskar to Sachin Tendulkar.  The list of international cricketers with longer careers and a mountain of runs behind them are endless and  Gavaskar and Tendulkar are mere examples.  Let us take the example of the Sachin Tendulkar the leading run scorer in both forms of the game.  Sachin Tendulkar has scored close to 30000 runs in international cricket.  To many people 30000 in itself is a imposing figure.  However if you look at things from a different angle, batting is not just about scoring runs as scoring runs is just one aspect of batting.  A look at the following points goes on to prove the actual value of runs scored by batsmen in their cricketing careers.

A Batsman has to run for his partners runs:- On an average Sachin Tendulkar scores 50 plus runs in every innings.  Naturally when he gets those 50 runs in an innings he has a partner batting along with him.  Sachin has to run singles, twos and three for his partners also.  Actually when Sachin scores a 50 he is involved in a single partnership or multiple partnerships exceeding more than 100 runs per inning.  True Sachin Tendulkar need not run for every run as there are certain boundaries scored in between as and when a loose ball is bowled,  and the partner too get his share of  boundaries but still for getting those 30000 runs he would have had to put far more effort than one would imagine going by career stats.  Sachin Tendulkar could have easily ran around 15000 to 18000 runs for his partners.

Number of deliveries faced at the crease:- Sachin would have faced about 45000 deliveries in international cricket to bet those 30000 odd international runs.  In his career he has batted with many batsman like Rahul Dravid, VV S Lakshman and many others.  Those batsman too collectively would have faced about 45000 deliveries in their careers.  That means almost 90000 delivery were bowled during Sachins Tendulkars stay at the crease in international cricket. The count of deliveries excludes extras like wides and no balls and deliveries faced in other forms of cricket like First Class, List A and exhibition matches. Being at the crease and required to focus on about a lakh of deliveries being bowled around you needs tremendous powers of concentration and focus.

Here we are not just talking about Sachin Tendulkar alone,  but are talking about all international cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar, Sanath Jayasurya, Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting nd Brian Lara who have played hundreds of matches in their international careers.  These batsman are remembered only for the runs they have scored but one must really appreciate all of  these great batsman for they had to have high levels of concentration, energy, focus and determination to last the distance in their international careers.

Regards

Satish