By IANS
Chennai : Rahul Dravid Saturday became the sixth batsman and the third Indian to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket.
On the fourth day of the first Test against South Africa here, Dravid joined two other Indians – Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar – in the list, which also has Steve Waugh, Allan Border and Brian Lara.
He managed to reach the mark in his 120th Test, staring his career in 1996.
Lara (11,953) still holds the world record for the highest Test runs aggregate, closely followed by Tendulkar (11,782), Border (11,174), Waugh (10,927) and Gavaskar (10,122).
Dravid also became the first batsman to play 150 innings while batting at no. 3 position.
With his knock of 111 runs off 291 balls in the first innings, Dravid became the 12th player overall and the third Indian after Gavaskar (34) and Tendulkar (39) to register 25 centuries or more in Test annals.
The other statistical highlights of the day are as follows:
# Dravid had completed 10,000 runs in 206 innings, which is now the second fastest in the history of Test cricket, while Tendulkar and West Indian Lara had taken only 195 innings each for achieving the feat.
# Virender Sehwag’s excellent innings of 319 runs is now the highest individual score by an Indian batsman in the history of Test cricket, outstripping the 309, posted by him in the 2003-04 Multan Test against Pakistan.
# In his knock, Sehwag surpassed another Indian record. His innings contained 198 runs through boundaries (42 fours and five sixes), surpassing his own record of 194 (47 fours and one six) during his 254 against Pakistan at Lahore in 2005-06.
# Only three batsmen have made more runs in an innings through boundaries than Sehwag – England’s John Edrich (228 against New Zealand at Leeds in 1965), Australia’s Matthew Hayden (218 against Zimbabwe at Perth in 2003) and Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq (206 against New Zealand at Lahore in 2002).
# The 268-run second wicket partnership between Sehwag and Dravid is India’s second best in Test cricket, next only to the unbeaten 344 stand between Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar against the West Indies at Kolkata in 1978-79.
# The partnership between Sehwag and Dravid is also the second highest for any wicket at Chepauk, next only to the 316 run stand between Gundappa Viswanath and Yashpal Sharma for the third wicket against England in 1981-82.
# Paul Harris, with bowling figures of 53.1-6-203-3 in India’s first innings, became the second South African bowler after Nicky Boje to concede 200 runs or more in a Test innings. Boje had registered figures of 65-5-221-0 against Sri Lanka’s at Colombo in 2006.
# Mahendra Singh Dhoni has not posted a Test fifty in his last 10 innings since scoring an unbeaten 50 against Pakistan at Kolkata in 2007-08.
# India (627) recorded their best ever total against South Africa, surpassing their 466 in the 2004-05 Kanpur Test. India’s total is now the sixth highest total against South Africa.
# Neil McKenzie posted his third fifty against India, his 15th overall. His last three innings in Test Cricket are 50-plus, 226 against Bangladesh at Chittagong and 94 and 59 not out against India at Chennai, a feat achieved by him for the first time in Test cricket.