Almost 500

In a seven-day span that brought Sachin Tendulkar his 50th Test century,a teenager from his city,Mumbai,has announced himself in a manner quite similar to his own teenage exploits with records. Arman Jaffer,all of 13 years old,has broken the world record for the highest number of runs in school cricket,scoring 498 in the Giles Shield tournament in Mumbai. His achievement acquires even more of a local character,given that his uncle,former Test opener Wasim Jaffer,too once held a school-level record and is Mumbai captain. Young Arman got to his record in quick time,needing 490 deliveries. And his knock,which has brought him to national attention,is an apt year-end antidote to fear of a monoculture creeping into cricket. As the Twenty20 format draws large numbers of followers and capital,and as its competing teams evade the older frameworks for contests and record-keeping for instance,the Indian Premier League,the fear expressed is that older,more history-laden formats will be edged out. Tendulkar showed that while his successors may not have the opportunity to play as many Tests as his generation did,the aura of excellence in Tests does certainly endure and outshine all else. And Arman has shown that even in an information space thick with international and celebrity-ised cricket,the rare milestone will make us stop and take note. It may even be argued that the hastened and highly charged run-making of the T20 format puts in sharper profile the patient and planned accretion of runs in the longer formats. Indeed,the patience and stamina to last it out beyond a few overs is a skill that may have been commonplace earlier,but it is now highly prized.