By IANS
Chennai : Virender Sehwag became the first opener in Test cricket to record two triple centuries here Friday. He is also the first player to post two triple hundreds at two different venues – Chennai and Multan.
Sehwag hammered the South African bowling attack to all parts of the ground en route to his unbeaten 309 off 292 balls.
Sehwag also joined the elite club of Sir Don Bradman and Brian Lara as the only the third batsman in the history of Test cricket to score two triple centuries.
The other statistical highlights of the day are as follows:
Sehwag had registered his first triple century against Pakistan – 309 at Multan in April 2004. Sir Bradman (Australia) was the first to record two triple hundreds in Test annals, both against England at Leeds – 304 in 1930 and 334 in 1934, followed by Brian Lara (West Indies), who had equalled Bradman’s feat with both his 300-plus innings against the same opponent (England) and at the same ground (St. John’s) – 375 in 1993-94 and 400 not
out in 2003-04.
Sehwag’s triple century off 278 balls is now the fastest in the history of Test cricket, surpassing Matthew Hayden’s 362-ball triple hundred against Zimbabwe at Perth in 2003-04.
His innings is now the highest by an Indian batsman against South Africa, outstripping Sachin Tendulkar’s 169 at Cape Town in 1996-97.
Sehwag’s unbeaten 309 is his fourth innings of 200-plus and joined the club of Rahul Dravid (five 200-plus innings), Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar. Against Pakistan, he had recorded his previous three double hundreds.
He also became the first Indian opener to register four innings of 200-plus, bettering Sunil Gavaskar’s tally of three, a record that virtually went unnoticed. Vinoo Mankad and Wasim Jaffer are the other two openers to have registered two double centuries each while opening the innings.
Sehwag registered the third fastest double hundred in terms of balls faced (194) in Test annals – the top two being New Zealand’s Nathan Astle (153 balls) against England at Christchurch in 2001-02 and he himself (182-balls) against Pakistan at Lahore in 2005-06.
He recorded the highest innings by any batsman at Chepauk, surpassing Sunil Gavaskar’s 236 not out against West Indies in 1983-84. Gundappa Viswanath is the only other Indian to post a double hundred at this venue – 222 against England in 1981-82.
His innings is now the highest by any batsman on Indian soil, eclipsing V.V.S. Laxman’s 281 against Australia at Kolkata in 2000-01.
Sehwag’s 14th century in Tests is his third against South Africa in 8 Tests – his previous two hundreds against the Proteas being 105 at Bloemfontein in November 2001 on Test debut and 164 at Kanpur in November 2004.
Of his 14 hundreds, 13 have been recorded in the first innings, while seven hundreds each have been registered at home and away.
He recorded centuries in successive innings for the first time. In the second innings of the Adelaide Test against Australia in January 2008, he had made 151.
His feat of 257 runs in a day’s play is an Indian record, (bettering his 228 against Pakistan at Multan in 2003-04) and the fifth best in Test cricket.
Sehwag and Jaffer put on 213 runs – India’s third century partnership for the first wicket against South Africa.
# For the first time against South Africa, India has registered a century stand for the first wicket in successive Tests. In the last Test between the two countries at Cape Town in 2006-07, Jaffer and Karthik had put on 153 runs in the first innings.
For the first time in the history of India-South Africa Test series, the opening pairs from both the teams have been associated in century stands. Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie had put on 132 in the visitors first innings of 540.
The 213 run stand between Jaffer and Sehwag is India’s first century partnership for the opening wicket in 18 innings. Karthik-Jaffer pair was the last Indian opening pair to be associated in a century stand, putting on 147 against England at Trent Bridge in 2007.
Jaffer’s 73 is his second best innings against South Africa – his highest being 116 at Cape Town in 2006-07.
Sehwag-Jaffer opening partnership is now a record for the first wicket for India at Chepauk, bettering the 200 run stand between Sunil Gavaskar and Krishnamachari Srikkant against Pakistan in 1986-87.
Sehwag and Rahul Dravid put on 255 – an Indian record for the second wicket against South Africa, outstripping the 171 between Deep Dasgupta and Dravid at Port Elizabeth in 2001-02.
For the first time in the history of Indian Test Cricket, two partnerships of 200-plus have been recorded for the first two wickets – 213 for the first and 255 (unfinished) for the second.
Of India’s eight 200-plus stands for the opening wicket, Sehwag is the only player to figure in four partnerships, bettering Gavaskar’s feat of featuring in three double century stands.