By IANS,
Bangalore : Harbhajan Singh, who led Indian fightback with an audacious 54 in the first Test here Saturday, has now scored three half-centuries in his last three Tests against Australia.
Harbhajan (54) scored 63 in the Adelaide and Sydney Tests earlier in the year.
Other statistical highlights of the third’s day’s play:
* Harbhajan (54) registerd his first fifty at home. He has hit five half-centuries in Test Cricket – one each against England and Zimbabwe and three against Australia.
* Harbhajan’s previous highest on Indian soil was 42 against Australia in the 2004-05 Bangalore Test.
* Harbhajan and Zaheer Khan were associated in a eighth-wicket stand of 80, India’s best partnership against Australia at Bangalore, outstripping the 31 between and Anil Kumble and Parthiv Patel in 2004-05.
* The stand is the second best overall at this venue – the highest being 84 between Ravi Shastri and Kiran More against New Zealand in 1988-89.
* Sourav Ganguly’s 47 off 115 balls is his highest in eight innings.
* V.V.S. Laxman recorded his 10th duck in Test Cricket – his second against Austraila.
* Gautam Gambhir’s wicket is Brett Lee’s first Test wicket in India.
* Mahendra Singh Dhoni (9) is without a fifty against Australia in nine innings (5 Tests). His highest against them has been 38 at Perth in January 2008.
* Sachin Tendulkar is now the highest scorer on Indian soil – 5,069 at an average of 54.50, including 16 centuries and 21 fifties in 64 Tests, surpassing Sunil Gavaskar’s run-aggregate of 5,067 at an average of 50.16 in 65 Tests, including 16 centuries and 23 fifties.
* Since posting 153 against Australia at Adelaide in January, Tendulkar is without a fifty in his last nine innings. His sequence of scores has been 13, 0, 27, 12, 5, 31, 6, 14 & 13.
* Tendulkar, during the course of his innings of 13, became the second batsman to amass 500 runs at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore – 509 at an average of 50.90, including one century and two fifties. Sunil Gavaskar, with 600 runs at an average of 54.54, including two centuries and three fifties, in 8 Tests is the leading run-getter at this venue.
* Rahul Dravid’s 51 off 104 balls is his 53rd fifty in Test Cricket – his 11th against Australia.
* Mitchell Johnson (4/62) produced his best bowling performance against India, bettering his 4/86 at Perth in January 2008.