By IANS
Melbourne : Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh picked up the wicket of Australian captain Ricky Ponting and entered the 250-wicket Test club at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) here Friday.
Harbhajan, who now has 251 wickets, is the fourth Indian after Anil Kumble (591), Kapil Dev (434) and Bishan Singh Bedi (266) to achieve the feat.
Harbhajan picked up three wickets for 101 runs in the second innings and bettered his one for 101 in the second innings of the 2003-04 Brisbane Test.
The following are the statistical highlights of the day:
# Matthew Hayden, during his innings of 47, has completed his 8,000 runs in 92 Tests – 8003 runs at an average of 53.00. He is the fifth Australian player and the 18th in Test annals to have amassed 8000 or more runs.
# Allan Border (11174 in 156 Tests) heads the chart for Australia, followed by Steve Waugh (10927 in 168), Ricky Ponting (9515 in 113), Mark Waugh (8029 in 128) and Hayden (8003 in 92).
# Phil Jaques (66 & 51) for the second successive Test, has recorded 50-plus in each innings of a Test match. With six successive fifty-plus innings – 66 vs. Bangladesh at Chittagong in 2005-06; 100 vs. Sri Lanka at Brisbane and 150 & 68 at Hobart in 2007-08 and 66 & 51 vs. India at Melbourne, Jaques has equalled an Australian record for most 50-plus innings.
# Jack Ryder, Doug Walters, Greg Chappell, Allan Border, Mark Taylor, Michael Hussey and Jaques now share the record for most 50-plus innings for Australia.
# Michael Clarke (73) posted his seventh fifty – his third against India.
# Kumble, with Clarke’s wicket, took his tally to 49 (ave.29.40) in 10 Tests in 2007. Both Muralitharan (49 in 8 Tests at 22.30 runs apiece) and Kumble share the record for most wickets in 2007.
# With Jaques’ wicket as ‘caught and bowled’, his 31st in this fashion, Kumble has equalled Muttiah Muralitharan’s record of 31 ‘caught and bowled’ dismissals.