Records fall like nine pins

By Mohandas Menon

*** V.V.S. Laxman during his marathon unbeaten 275, bettered the following landmarks:

* on 168, he bettered his personal best score of 167 which was also against Australia at Sydney in January 2000.

* on 178, he bettered the previous highest score for India against Australia at home, which was 177 by Sachin Tendulkar at Bangalore in March 1998.

* on 183, he bettered India's highest at this venue which was the unbeaten 182 by Sunil Gavaskar (vs West Indies, 1978-79) and 182 by M. Azharuddin (vs England, 1992-93).

* on 183, he also bettered West Indian Brian Lara's 182 in the recent Test match at Adelaide which was the highest score by an individual batsman against Australia during their record-breaking winning steak since October 1999.

* on 207, he bettered the previous highest score by an Indian against Australia, which was 206 by Ravi Shastri at Sydney in January 1992.

* on 216, he bettered the previous highest score by any batsmen against Australia at number three in an away Test match, which was the 215 by Englishman David Gower at Birmingham in August 1985.

* on 228, he bettered the previous highest score by an Indian batsman at number three, which was the 227 by Vinod Kambli against Zimbabwe at Delhi in March 1993.

* on 237, he bettered the highest individual score by an Indian batman which was 236 not out by Gavaskar at Madras, December 1983.

* on 238, he bettered the previous highest individual score by any batsman against Australia in the sub-continent, which was the 237 by Pakistani Salim Malik at Rawalpindi in October 1994.

* on 250, he became the seventh batsman in Test history to score 250-plus against the Aussies.

on 252, he bettered the previous highest score by any batsmen against Australia at number three, which was the 251 by Englishman Wally Hammond at Sydney in December 1928.

* on 256, he bettered the previous highest Test score by any player on Indian soil which was the 256 by West Indian Rohan Kanhai at this venue.

* on 275, he became the fourth highest individual scorer against Australia. Now, only England's Len Hutton (364 at The Oval, 1938) and Reg Foster (287 at Sydney, 1903-04) and West Indian Brian Lara (277 at Sydney, 1992-93) have scored more than Laxman against Australia.

* Laxman's 44 fours was now the maximum boundaries (excluding sixes) hit by any Indian batsman in Tests. Budhi Kunderan (192 vs England at Madras, 1963-64) and Gundappa Viswanath (222 v England at Madras, 1981-82) had hit 31 fours each during their respective knocks.

* This was also the maximum boundaries (excluding sixes) hit by any batsman against the Australian bowling in Tests. South African Graeme Pollock had hit 43 fours (and also a five) during his innings of 274 at Durban in February 1970.

*****

*** The unbeaten partnership of 357 between Laxman and Rahul Dravid now occupies the 19th position in the all-time list of Test partnerships for any wicket. The partnership was also the third highest for the fifth wicket in Tests. Only the stand of 405 between Don Bradman and Sid Barnes against England at Sydney in December 1946 and the 385 runs put on by Australians Steve Waugh and Greg Blewett against South Africa at Johannesburg in March 1997 - exceed the Laxman-Dravid stand for the fifth wicket.

*** For India now, the only partnership which exceeds the Laxman- Dravid effort is the 413 (for the first wicket) put on by Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy against New Zealand at the Corporation Stadium, Madras in January 1956.

*** The partnership is also the second highest for any wicket by any team against Australia in Tests. The best of 382 for the second wicket still remains with Englishmen Len Hutton and Maurice Leyland at the Oval in August 1938. However, the Indian pair bettered the previous highest partnership for the fifth wicket against Australia by any team, which was the 322 between West Indian Brian Lara and Jimmy Adams at Kingston in March 1999.

*** It was by far the highest partnership for the fifth wicket for India in Tests, bettering the previous highest of 214 between Ravi Shastri and Mohd. Azharuddin against England at Calcutta in January 1985.

*** India's previous highest partnership against Australia for any wicket was the unbeaten 298 between Dilip Vengsarkar and Shastri at Bombay in October 1986 and the previous best for the fifth wicket was the 196 put on by Shastri and BGSachin Tendulkar at Sydney in January 1992.

*****

*** Laxman and Dravid become the only third Indian pair to bat through out a full day's play. The others being Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy (1st day - took the score to 234-0) against New Zealand at Madras (Corporation Stadium) on January 6, 1956 and Gundappa Viswanath and Yashpal Sharma (2nd day - took the score from 178-2 to 395-2) against England at Madras (Chepauk) on January 14, 1982.

*****

*** Only twice before, a team has won a Test match after following on and on both occasions, it was the Australians who lost the match - against England at Sydney in December 1894 and at Leeds in July 1981.

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