Hayden, Harbhajan hog limelight

By Mohandas Menon

** Matthew Hayden (203) during his double hundred, when on 153, reached 1000 Test runs in his 16th match and 27th innings. He now becomes the 78th Australian and the 362nd batsman in Test history to reach this landmark.

** Surprisingly, the six 6s hit by Hayden during his innings was the maximum by any Australian batsman in a Test innings. The Australians to have hit five 6s are: Joe Darling (twice), Sam Loxton, Allan Border and Michael Slater.

** Hayden during his innings also became the second Australian after Kim Hughes (594 runs in six matches in 1979-80) to aggregate over 500 runs in a series in India. Hayden, who now has 514 runs, is the only Australian to do so in three Tests - home or away - against India. Hayden, meanwhile also became only the second Australian to aggregate over 500 runs in a three-match Test series. Former captain and opener Mark Taylor had made 513 runs in Pakistan during the 1998-99 series, while Hayden with 514 runs now has the highest run aggregate by an Australian batsman in a three-match Test series.

** Steve Waugh (47) earned the dubious distinction of being the sixth batsman in Test history of being dismissed handled the ball. The others are: Russell Endean (3) for South Africa against England at Cape Town in January 1957; Australian Andrew Hilditch (29) against Pakistan at Perth in March 1979; Pakistani Mohsin Khan (58) against Australia at Karachi on September 1982; West Indian Desmond Haynes (55) against India at Bombay in November 1983 and Englishman Graham Gooch (133) against Australia at Manchester in June 1993. Gooch and Waugh are the only Test captains in this list.

** Shane Warne's dismissal on zero makes him the Australian with maximum ducks in Test cricket - 23. He went ahead of Glenn McGrath who has 22 ducks.

** Warne's three ducks in a row makes him only the second Australian after Rodney Hogg (during the 1979-80 series) to do so against India.

** Interestingly, only one duck was recorded by Australian batsmen (by McGrath in the first Test at Brisbane) in their last Test series against West Indies. However, during the present series as many as 13 ducks have been recorded by Australian batsmen, with one more innings to go!

** Offie Harbhajan Singh in his last three innings has claimed 20 wickets (7-123 & 6-73 and 7-133). He now joins a select band of bowlers who have had the distinction of claiming at least six wickets in three consecutive innings. England pace bowler George Lohmann (in 1895-96, had aggregated 24 wickets); Australian leg- spinner Clarrie Grimmett doing so on two occasions (in 1931-32 and 1936-36, with 20 wickets each), England off- spinner Jim Laker (in 1956, 25 wickets), Pakistani Imran Khan (in 1981-82, 21 wickets) and finally Indian leggie Laxman Sivaramakrishnan (in 1984-85, 18 wickets) are the others to do so.

** Harbhajan now has 24 wickets in this series, which is the maximum by any Indian bowler in a three-match Test series. He went past the tally of Anil Kumble, who during the 1998 series against the Aussies had captured 23 wickets. With one more innings remaining, Harbhajan, if he manages to take all 10 Australian wickets (which is unlikely), could go past the record tally of 33 wickets in a three-match Test series against Australia, which was achieved by New Zealand's Richard Hadlee in 1985-86 in Australia. However, Harbhajan could go past the next best tally of 25 wickets held by South African left-armer Charlie Buck Llewellyn way back in 1902-03 at home. For the record, Harbhajan has now equalled the tally of 24 wickets in a three- match Test series against Australia held by England's left-arm spinner Bobby Peel (1888 in England) and pace bowler Tom Richardson (in 1896 in England) and by West Indian fast bowler Michael Holding (1981-82 in Australia).

** The 123-run partnership between S.S. Das and S. Ramesh was the first achieved by Indian openers since the 162-run partnership between Devang Gandhi and Ramesh against New Zealand at Kanpur in October 1999. Since then in 22 innings the highest was the 72 put on by Das and Ramesh against Zimbabwe at Nagpur in November last year.

** Since this partnership of 123 runs and the one put on by the Indian pair of Navjot Singh and V.V.S. Laxman of 191 at Calcutta three years ago in March 1998, only one 100-plus opening partnership has been recorded against this Australian attack - the 147 by West Indians Sherwin Campbell and Wavell Hinds at Sydney earlier this year in January. This means that in the last 35 matches the Australians have conceded 100-plus runs for the first wicket on just three occasions.

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