Another brick in The Wall

Interestingly, he conquered Mount 10,000 in four Tests less than Gavaskar. He also got there much sooner than the other members of this elite club 8212; Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Sachin Tendulkar.

Only Brian Lara, the bat-weilding magician, got to the magical five digits sooner than Dravid 8212; 111 Test matches as compared to 120.

Resuming at an overnight score of 65 on the fourth day of the first Test against South Africa, Dravid needed just 23 runs to take his tally to 10,000.

The packed MA Chidambaram Stadium, on a high after watching Sehwag8217;s record-blazing triple century yesterday, got to witness another bit of history today.

Though Dravid8217;s innings of 111 paled in comparison to the opener8217;s entertaining knock, the crowd stood up in respect for Dravid. It was the acknowledgment of the batsman8217;s glorious achievements in Test cricket over the last decade. When Dravid returned to the pavilion, after a typically composed century, his overall tally stood at 10,031 runs if the Super Series Test against Australia is included, or 10,008 for the sticklers.

As a top-order batsman, who even opened for India apart from playing at number three on 150 occasions, consistency has been Dravid8217;s biggest USP.

Scoring 10,000 runs in Test cricket helped Dravid achieve another objective, an honour that rests only with two others. He joined Lara and Tendulkar as the third batsman in the history of the game to achieve the landmark in both Tests and one-dayers. 8220;It is great just to be in that sort of company, fantastic. Both of them have been the greatest batsmen of my generation. For me, in some ways, that company is surreal,8221; he said.

Not been easy

In the last 45 Test matches, Dravid 8212; who averages 55.91 in the longer version and 56.91 at number three 8212; had managed to score only two centuries. For a batsman who sets high standards for himself, especially if his four double centuries and four centuries between 2002 and 2004 are considered, the last one year has been a rare blip.

8220;I pretty much coasted for the last five-six years of my career but I had to work pretty hard from 9,000 to 10,000. In some ways, it was a learning curve. This has been a tough year. I set high standards for myself and I have been fighting through it,8221; he said.

Dravid8217;s family and close friends travelled to Chennai to watch him score the all-important runs. It was a day when a Test match took unexpected turns to indicate a draw yet again. But it also turned out to be special because one of India8217;s greatest Test cricketers crossed a milestone 8212; one that only five others have stepped over before.

STAT-PACK

8226; Rahul Dravid became the third Indian and only the sixth in Test history to break the 10,000-run barrier

8226; The former Indian captain reached the milestone in the 119th over of the Indian innings, when he went from 79 to 80 with a clip towards mid-wicket off Morne Morkel

8226; Sachin Tendulkar 11782 runs in 147 Tests and Sunil Gavaskar 10122 runs in 125 are the other Indians in the big league, which also contains Steve Waugh 10927 runs in 168, Allan Border 11174 runs in 156 and Brian Lara 11953 runs in 131

8226; Dravid managed to reach the mark in his 206th innings and 120th Test. Twenty three of those runs, though, came for the World XI against Australia at Sydney in October 2005, a Super Series match that was given official status

8226; He also became the third Indian after Sachin Tendulkar 39 hundreds in 147 Tests and Sunil Gavaskar 34 hundreds in 125 Tests and 12th batsman overall to score 25 centuries in Test cricket

8226; He became the first batsman to play 150 innings while batting at No 3