By IANS
Kanpur : Sourav Ganguly registered his seventh fifty against South Africa, which is his 34th in Tests, on the second day of the third Test at Green park here Saturday.
India (288/9) established a record for most runs in a day’s play against South Africa at Kanpur, eclipsing the 263 for four on the third day in 1996-97.
Ganguly (87 off 119 balls) equalled his highest ever score against South Africa.
For the second time against South Africa, Ganguly has recorded two successive fifties – 87 in the second innings of the Ahmedabad Test and 87 here.
Morne Morkel (3/57) produced his best performance against India, bettering his 3 for 86 at Durban in 2006. It is Morkel’s second best overall, next only to 5 for 50 against Bangladesh at Dhaka in February.
Rahul Dravid and V.V.S.Laxman were associated in a stand of 78 — an Indian record for the third wicket against South Africa at Kanpur, eclipsing the 50 between Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble in 1996-97.
Laxman’s innings of 50 off 103 balls is his highest score of the series, bettering his 39 at Chennai last month.
Laxman’s 33rd fifty is his fifth against South Africa.
Wasim Jaffer, in his last 12 innings, has recorded an innings of 20 or more only once – 73 against South Africa at Chennai last month.
In 5 Tests (8 innings) this year, Jaffer has aggregated 146 runs at an average of 18.25.
Yuvraj’s 32 off 57 balls is his highest in six Test innings. In his previous five innings, he had made 2 against Pakistan and 0, 5, 12 & 0 against Australia.
Dale Steyn became the first South African bowler to claim 15 wickets (ave.18.46) in a Test series in India.