The Paint-By-Numbers Maestro

1989

He made his international debuts in Pakistan—both in Tests (at Karachi in November) and ODIs (at Gujranwala in December) at 16
He was then the third youngest in Test history, after Pakistanis Mushtaq Mohammed (15 y, 124 d) and Aaqib Javed (16 y, 189 d)
He was also the second youngest in ODIs after Aaqib Javed (16 y, 127 d)
He became the youngest to score a Test fifty (59, versus Pakistan at Faisalabad in 1989), then aged 16 y, 214 d
However, he began his ODI career in an inauspicious manner, with a duck

1990

He missed a Test century, dismissed for 88 at Napier in February. He could have then become the youngest to score a three-digit score in Tests.
He followed his ODI debut duck with another against New Zealand in March
He recorded his maiden Test ton—a match-saving 119 not out at Old Trafford, Manchester, against England, which won him his first Man of the Match award in international cricket
He then became the second youngest to score a Test century—at 17 y, 112 d—after Mushtaq Mohammed, who was 17 y, 82 d during his knock of 101 against India at Delhi in 1960-61
He played in his first home Test at the Sector 16 Stadium at Chandigarh in November, after appearing in 10 away Tests. Incidentally, this was his first match with a winning Test side.

1991

Appeared in just two Tests during the year—the least number of Tests he has played in a calendar year throughout his career
He however did appear in 14 ODIs, scoring 417 runs, with four fifties

1992

In January, he made an unbeaten 148 at Sydney and in February followed this with a 114 at Perth. This made him the youngest batsman to scores Test centuries on Australian soil
In February, he appeared in his first World Cup (in Australia and New Zealand)
In March, he reached 1,000 runs in ODIs; at 18 y, 318 d, he was the youngest to reach this landmark, till Shahid Afridi achieved it younger in October 1997
In November at Durban, adjudged run-out, he became the first Test batsman to be dismissed by the TV umpire
The same month, he made his first Test century in South Africa—a 111, at Johannesburg in November
During that knock, he reached 1,000 runs in Tests and at 19 y, 217 d, became the youngest batsman in Test history to do so

1993

In February, he made his first international century at home (165 against England at the Chepauk Test) after making four away from home
With this, he became the only batsman to aggregate over 1,000 Test runs (1,522 runs) and also make five centuries as a teenager—before turning 20
Later in the month, he also became the first teenager to aggregate 1,500 career odi runs—1,520. In July, he made his first three-digit Test score in Sri Lanka.

1994

In March, he reached the 2,000-run mark in Tests at 20 y, 330 d, the youngest batsman to do so
In the same month, he opened the batting for the first time in his career— against New Zealand in the Auckland ODI. He made 82 runs off 49 balls, with 15 fours and two sixes.
In April, he reached the 2,000-run mark in ODIs and was then the youngest to achieve it. However, he had still not made a three-digit score in ODIs.
In September, he finally made his first three-figure ODI score—110 against Australia at Premadasa, Colombo, in his 79th match
In November, he was ranked the No. 1 ICC Test batsman, for the first time in his career. (His stint as No. 1 lasted 84 days—till February 9, 1995).
Also, for the first time in his international career, he managed to aggregate over 1,000 runs in a calendar year. He had made 1,089 runs in 25 odis, with three centuries.

1995

In April, he made his first century at Sharjah—an unbeaten 112 against Sri Lanka. During this knock, he reached 3,000 runs in odis, and at 21 y, 350 d, was then the youngest to do so.
Appeared in just three home Tests during the year, making 58 runs, the least score he had ever made in a calendar year

1996

In March, for the first time in his ODI career, he was ranked No. 1 in the ICC rankings for batsmen
In April, he reached the milestone of 4,000 runs in ODIs, at 22 y, 359 d, still the youngest to do so
In August, he was made the Indian ODI captain for the first time and began his stint with a century against Sri Lanka in Colombo
He had then become the only third ODI player to score a century on debut as captain and till date the only Indian to achieve this feat
In October, he became India's 26th Test captain and won the Test against Australia in Delhi
In December, he reached the 3,000-run mark in Tests, and at 23 y, 228 d, was the youngest to do so
He aggregated 1,611 runs (an average of 53.70) in 32 ODIs, getting six centuries during the year

1997

In February, he reached 5,000 runs in ODIs and, at 23 y, 294 d, remains the youngest to have done so
In December, he reached the 4,000-run mark in Tests at 24 y, 224 d. He is still the youngest to reach the mark.
He aggregated 1,000 runs in both Tests (1,000 runs) and ODIs (1,011 runs) during the year—a rare feat. Interestingly, this was also achieved by Sri Lankans Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda de Silva for the first time in the same year.

1998

In January, he claimed his 50th ODI wicket
Three days later, he reached the 6,000-run mark in ODIs at 24 y, 265 d. He’s still the youngest to have reached the mark.
In March, ICC ranked him the No. 1 Test batsman for the second time in his career
This stint lasted for 302 days until he was replaced by Rahul Dravid on Jan 2, 1999
In April, he got his first 5-wicket haul (5/32 against Australia) in the Kochi ODI
The same month, he made two ODI tons in successive matches—the only time in his career—both against Australia in Sharjah. The second was on his 25th birthday.
He missed the next ODI, rested for the first time since 1990, having appeared in a record 185 matches in a row
In July, he reached the 7,000-run mark in ODIs, at 25 y, 74 d. He’s still the youngest to have achieved that milestone.
On September 26, his unbeaten 127 against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo, his 18th century, made him the batsman with the most ODI tons.
He made 1,894 ODI runs, still the most scored in any calendar year in Tests or ODIs. He also took 24 ODI wickets, to date his best all-round show in a year.

1999

In January, he regained his No. 1 ICC batsman status from Dravid. This time it lasted just a week.
In February, he reached the 5,000-run mark in Tests at 25 y, 301 d. He’s still the youngest to reach the mark.
In June, he became the fourth batsman to aggregate 8,000 ODI runs. He was 26 y, 45 d old, and is still the youngest to reach the mark.
In October, he took his 50th Test catch
The same month, he got his first Test double ton (217 against New Zealand in Ahmedabad), the highest by an Indian Test captain
A week later, in November, he made an unbeaten 186 against New Zealand at Hyderabad, then the highest by an Indian batsman in odis and the fourth highest individual score in ODIs.
He was involved in a record 331-run stand in the same match, with Rahul Dravid, still the highest partnership in ODIs
During the year, he made 1,088 runs in Tests, with five centuries

2000

In March, he reached 6,000 runs in Tests at 26 y, 313 d, and is the youngest to have done so
Two weeks on, he became only the second batsman to aggregate 9,000 ODI runs
In May, for the fourth time in his career, ICC ranked him No. 1 batsman for the longest time in his career (477 days) until Andy Flower displaced him in September 2001.
On October 15, he became the highest run-getter in ODIs, overtaking Mohammed Azharuddin’s 9,378 runs.
His unbeaten 201 against Zimbabwe at Nagpur on November 26 was his 50th century in international cricket. He was the first batsman to do so at this level (a feat only achieved much later by West Indian Brian Lara, Australian Ricky Ponting and South African Jacques Kallis).
During the year, he made 1,328 runs and also claimed 20 ODI wickets

2001

In March, he became the first batsman in ODI history to reach 10,000 runs
In April, he claimed his 100th ODI wicket
He then became the first all-rounder in ODIs to do the double of 10,000 runs and 100 wickets
On October 24, he became the highest run-getter in international cricket (in both Tests and ODIs), going past the tally of 17,698 runs made by Australian Allan Border
In November, he reached 7,000 runs in Tests at 28 y, 193 d, still the youngest with that mark in his name
He made 1,003 runs in 10 Tests during the year, despite missing a Test series in Sri Lanka (in Aug-Sept)
This was the first time in his Test career since his debut that he missed a Test—after having appeared in 84 consecutive Test matches

2002

He reached 11,000 ODI runs in January
In May, he reached the 8,000 Test runs mark at 29 y, 27 d, and is still the youngest to have done so
On October 18, he became the first batsman in international cricket to aggregate 20,000 runs in both Tests and ODIs combined

2003

In March, he reached the 12,000-run mark in ODIs
His aggregate of 673 runs in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa in March is the most by any batsman in a single World Cup

2004

In January, he reached the 9,000-run mark in Tests at 30 y, 253 d, and is still the youngest to have got there
In March, he reached the 13,000-run mark in ODIs
A week later, he claimed his 100th ODI catch
He became the first all-rounder in ODIs to achieve the triple of 10,000 runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches. The exact figures: 13,134 runs, 116 wickets, 100 catches in 333 ODI matches.
In December, he registered his highest Test score— an unbeaten 248 against Bangladesh at Dhaka (still his highest score in first-class cricket)
By achieving this at Dhaka, he then became only the third player, after Gary Kirsten and Steve Waugh, to have scored a century against all the other nine Test playing countries

2005

In March, he reached the 10,000-run mark in Tests at 31 y, 326 d of age, and is still the youngest to get to that mark. He is only the fifth batsman in Test history to reach the figure.
By reaching the above landmark in 195 innings, he and Brian Lara have done it the least number of innings in Test history
On December 10 (against Sri Lanka at New Delhi), he became the batsman with most Test centuries (35), surpassing Sunil Gavaskar's tally of 34

2006

In February, he touched the 14,000-run mark in ODIs
In December, he appeared in the only international T-20 match of his career, in Johannesburg
Two days later, at Centurion, he achieved the 25,000-run mark in international cricket

2007

In June, he claimed his 150th ODI wicket, and a week later, reached the 15,000-run mark in ODIs
He became the first all-rounder in ODIs to reach the triple mark of 15,000 runs, 150 wickets, 100 catches
In July, he reached the 11,000-run mark in Tests, the third batsman to achieve this
In October, he became the only second player (after Sanath Jayasuriya) to appear in 400 ODI matches.
During the year, he was dismissed in the nineties on seven occasions, including six times in ODIs
During this period, he also missed three ODI centuries by just one run
He made 1,425 ODI runs in the year—for the seventh time in his career, he was making over 1,000 runs in a calendar year, a feat not achieved by any other batsman

2008

In February, he reached 16,000 ODI runs mark
On October 17, at Mohali, he became Test cricket's highest run-getter, surpassing Brian Lara's aggregate of 11,953 runs
He also became the first batsman in Test history to reach the 12,000-run mark
He reached this landmark in 247 innings, a feat later equalled by Australia’s Ricky Ponting
In November, he claimed his 100th Test catch

2009

In November, he reached the 17,000-run mark in ODIs
Ten days later, he completed 20 years in international cricket

2010

In January and October, he reached the 13,000- and 14,000-run marks in Tests
He scored three double hundreds during the year—two in Tests, one in an ODI
In February, he become the first batsman to get 200 in an ODI, an unbeaten 200 against S. Africa, in Gwalior
In August, he became the most capped Test player in history, going past Steve Waugh's tally of 168 matches
In October, he made his 20th score of 150-plus in Tests—the most by any batsman in Test history
During that match, he became ICC No. 1 Test batsman for the fifth time
He also became the first Asian player to appear the longest time in international cricket: more than 21 years
No player appearing in all three formats of the game has endured this long in international cricket
On December 19, he got his 50 Test centuries (against South Africa at Centurion)
His Test tally of 1,562 runs and seven centuries in the year was the most by any Indian in a calendar year
This was the sixth time in his Test career he was aggregating 1,000-plus runs in a calendar year—a feat not achieved by any batsman