By IANS,
Wellington : India’s Gautam Gambhir Sunday scored his sixth Test century in his 25th Test and bettered legendary Sunil Gavaskar’s record in terms of number of runs in the first 25 tests.
Gambhir’s 167 in the second innings of the third and final cricket Test here helped him to get 2,271 runs (average of 54.07) – the most by an Indian, eclipsing Sunil Gavaskar’s tally of 2,256 (average of 52.47). In 25 matches, Gambhir has also scored 10 half-centuries and a double hundred.
It was also Gambhir’s successive Test ton and he repeated the feat for the second time in his short career — the first occasion being against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2008-09 in India.
In the three-match series, Gambhir has scored 445 runs at a staggering average of 89.
Since his return to the Test side in December 2007, after a gap of two years, Gambhir has scored 1,587 runs in just 12 Tests at an average of 144.
The other highlights of the days are as follows:
Gautam Gambhir and V.V.S. Laxman have featured in a 106-run stand for the fourth wicket – India’s best at Basin Reserve, surpassing the 88 between Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly in 1998-99.
The aforesaid stand is India’s second highest in New Zealand for the fourth wicket – the highest is 144 between Dilip Vengsarkar and Mohammad Azharuddin in the 1989-90 Auckland Test.
Rahul Dravid recorded his 57th fifty – 60 off 145 balls – his sixth against New Zealand.
Gambhir and Dravid put on 170 runs for the second wicket, India’s best ever stand for any wicket at Basin Reserve, Wellington.
Gambhir has recorded his sixth Test century – his second against New Zealand in successive Tests.
Gambhir (167 off 257 balls) posted his highest innings in an overseas Test, beating the 139 against Bangladesh at Chittagong in 2004-05.
Gambhir’s innings is the best by an Indian left-hander on foreign soil.
Gambhir is the first left-handed Indian player to make two hundreds in a Test rubber against New Zealand.
Gambhir became the first batsman in the present series to aggregate 400 runs – 445 at an average of 89.00, including two hundreds and one fifty. He is the third left-hander after Roy Fredericks (West Indies) and David Gower (England) to aggregate 400 runs or more in a Test series against New Zealand.
Laxman (61 off 109 balls) posted his fourth fifty against New Zealand – his 39th in Tests.