By IANS
New Delhi : Andrew Symonds, who was a beneficiary of many dubious umpiring decisions during his first innings century, posted his fifth fifty in Tests with a 61 in the second innings.
As a team, Australia, with their 122-run win, equalled the world record of 16 victories in succession – marked by Steve Waugh’s Australians between October 14,1999 and March 1, 2001.
Symonds, who picked up his first Man of the Match award, posted a hundred and a fifty in the same Test – 162 not out and 61 — for the first time.
Symonds with 302 at an average of 100.66 is the second batsman after Matthew Hayden to go past 300 runs in the current series. Hayden, with 307 runs at an average of 76.75, is the leading run-getter in the series.
Symonds with three for 51 also produced his second best bowling performance, next only to his three for 50 against South Africa at Melbourne in December 2005.
The other statistical highlights of the fifth and final day were:
– Australia have won four, lost one and drawn four Tests in the nine played against India at SCG.
– Australia have won 34, lost 15, drawn 20 and tied one in 70 Tests against India for a winning percentage of 48.57. At home, Australia have won 22 out of 34 against India for a winning percentage of 64.70.
– Michael Hussey’s unbeaten 145 is his first hundred against India and eighth overall. It is also his highest score in Australia, bettering his 137 against West Indies at Hobart in November 2005.
– The match aggregate of 1606 for the loss of 37 wickets is the second best in India-Australia Tests – the highest ever between the two countries is 1747 for 25 wickets in the 2003-04 Sydney Test.