I keep the records, and the records are the records that I keep in the spreadsheet, and the spreadsheet has, in the column for the most Tests by an Indian batter, the number two hundred, and the number two hundred is the number that has been there since November 2013, and the number that has been there since November 2013 is the number that nobody has come within thirty of, and the thirty is the number that tells you something about the calendar, and the calendar is the thing that nobody blames.
The Numbers, And The Calendar Behind Them
Tendulkar played two hundred Tests. He played them over twenty-four years. He played, on average, eight point three Tests a year. The average is the average of a career that started before the IPL and that ended, by coincidence, in the year the IPL was six years old, and the IPL is the thing that changed the calendar, and the calendar is the thing that has, in the eleven years since Tendulkar retired, given Indian batters fewer Tests.
The Indian batter who has played the most Tests since Tendulkar retired is Cheteshwar Pujara, who has played one hundred and three. Pujara is thirty-eight. He has not been in the squad for two years. He will not play two hundred. The Indian batter who is currently in the squad and who has played the most Tests is Virat Kohli, who has played one hundred and fourteen. Kohli is thirty-seven. He will, if he plays every Test for the next three years, reach one hundred and seventy, and one hundred and seventy is thirty short of two hundred, and the thirty is the thirty that the calendar has taken.
Why The Calendar Has Changed
The calendar has changed because the IPL has grown, and the IPL has grown into a two-month tournament, and the two-month tournament is the tournament that takes the months of April and May, and the months of April and May are the months that, in Tendulkar’s time, were the months of Test cricket, and the Test cricket is the cricket that has been pushed, by the IPL, into the months that are left, and the months that are left are the months that are fewer, and the fewer is the fewer that the calendar gives to Test cricket, and the fewer is the fewer that the record book reflects.
The calendar has also changed because the bilaterals have changed, and the bilaterals have changed because the boards have, in the last ten years, scheduled fewer Tests and more white-ball matches, and the fewer Tests are the fewer Tests that the broadcasters pay for, and the broadcasters pay for what the audiences watch, and the audiences watch the white-ball, and the white-ball is the white-ball that the calendar has made room for, and the room that the calendar has made for the white-ball is the room that the calendar has taken from the Test, and the taking is the taking that the record book reflects.
What The Record Book Will Look Like In Twenty Years
The record book will, in twenty years, not have a Indian batter with two hundred Tests. The record book will, in twenty years, have an Indian batter with one hundred and sixty, maybe, and the one hundred and sixty will be the one hundred and sixty that the calendar allows, and the one hundred and sixty will be the record, and the record will be the record that the calendar has set, and the calendar will be the thing that nobody blames, and nobody will blame it because the calendar is the calendar that the boards have made and that the broadcasters have paid for and that the audiences have watched, and the watching is the watching that has made the calendar what it is, and the watching is the watching that we have all done, and the we that has done the watching is the we that includes me, and the me that has done the watching is the me that keeps the records, and the records that I keep are the records that the calendar has shaped, and the calendar will, in twenty years, have shaped them into a record book that does not have the two hundred, and the two hundred will be the number that the record book remembers, and the two hundred will be the number that the calendar will not let happen again.