By IANS,
Napier : Indian opener Gautam Gambhir’s century in the second cricket Test against New Zealand took him past 2,000 runs in 24 Tests, the second fastest by an Indian after Sunil Gavaskar.
Gambhir, in the course of his fifth hundred, has completed 2,000 runs (2,046) at an average of 52.46 in 24 Tests. Gavaskar took 23 Tests to reach 2,000 runs.
The left-hander’s unbeaten 102 in the second innings is his second hundred away from home – his first was 139 against Bangladesh at Chittagong in May 2004.
Gambhir, with his first hundred against New Zealand, became the first left-handed opening batsman from India to register a century in New Zealand and the second opener after Gavaskar (116 at Auckland in 1975-76) to post a hundred for India in New Zealand.
Gambhir is the 30th batsman to make 2,000 runs or more for India.
Other statistical highlights of fourth day’s play:
# Sachin Tendulkar (58 not out) posted his 52nd Test fifty — his sixth against New Zealand.
# Tendulkar’s batting average so far (133.50) is the best by any batsman in the present series and his aggregate of 267 is exceeded only by Jesse Ryder (324).
# Tendulkar became the fourth Indian batsman to register 50 or more sixes in Tests, joining Virender Sehwag (65), Kapil Dev (61) and Sourav Ganguly (57).
# Rahul Dravid has recorded his 56th half-century – his fifth against New Zealand. With 83 and 62 in the Napier Test, he has set an Indian record for making a fifty or more in each innings of a Test match ten times.
# Dravid has taken part in 75 century partnerships – a new record in Tests.
# Gambhir and Dravid, with their 133-run second-wicket partnership, have established an Indian record against New Zealand at Napier, outstripping the 92 between Sanjay Manjrekar and Manoj Prabhakar in 1989-90.