The quiet captain has, between June 1996 to February 2000, scored 7552 runs in international cricket (5061 in ODIs, 2491 in Tests). He scored 18 centuries (11 in ODIs and 7 in Tests), reached 5000-milestone in ODIs as the fastest Indian, leaving behind batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar and Mohd Azharuddin and twice (1997, 1999) finished a calendar year as the highest run-scorer in One Dayers, partnered Sachin for a world-record opening partnership of 252 in limited over matches and earned four consecutive man of the match awards against Pakistan at Toronto in 1997 - another world record. Although it has been a long journey, he is undisputably the newly-crowned 'king' of Indian cricket.