Mumbai:
Virender Sehwag and Murali Vijay have shared their third 90-plus partnership in succession - 98 (1st innings) and 116 (2nd) against Australia at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur in November 2008 and 221 against Sri Lanka at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai on Thursday - the best by Sehwag-Vijay pair.
The aforesaid partnership is India's second highest for the first wicket against Sri Lanka, next only to the 233 by Gautam Gambhir and Sehwag in the second Test of the present series at Kanpur last week.
The 221-run stand is the first double century stand for any wicket for India at Brabourne Stadium, eclipsing the 193 (unbroken) for the sixth wicket between Hanumant Singh and Dilip Sardesai against New Zealand in 1964-65.
Overall, the aforesaid partnership is the first double century stand for the first wicket at Brabourne Stadium.
Murali Vijay (87), playing in his second Test, has posted his highest score - his maiden fifty in Tests. On his Test debut against Australia at Nagpur in November 2008, he had made 33 and 41.
Pragyan Ojha (3/101) has registered his best bowling figures in Tests, bettering the 2 for 36 against Sri Lanka in the Kanpur Test.
Angelo Matthews has missed posting his ninth century in First-class cricket by a solitary run.
Matthews got himself run out going for the second run on 99, becaming the second Sri Lankan after Mahela Jayawardene (vs. West Indies at Galle in 2001-02) and the 14th batsman to be dismissed on 99 in this fashion.
Matthews is the first Sri Lankan player to be dismssed on 99 in a Test match against India. However, he is the fifth Sri Lankan to be dismissed in the nervous nineties, joining Roy Dias - 97 at Chennai in September 1982 and 95 at Colombo PSS in September 1985; Marvan Atapattu - 98 at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai in December 1997; Ravi Ratnayeke - 93 at Kanpur in December 1986 and Aravinda de Silva - 93 at Colombo SSC in July 1993.
Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag have shared a stand of 222 (unbroken) for the second wicket - India's second best for this wicket-position against Sri Lanka, next only to the 232 between S.Ramesh and Dravid at Colombo SSC in 1998-99.
With successive double century stands for the first and second wickets, Sehwag now shares ten double century stands (including an Indian record for six such stands for the first wicket) - a tally exceeded only by Sachin Tendulkar (14) and Rahul Dravid (13).
Dravid became the first player to share 80 century stands of 100 and more.
Dravid's ninth fifty against Sri Lanka is his 58th in Tests.
Sehwag has made 284 runs in a day's play - the third highest by any batsman in a day's play, next only to the 309 by Don Bradman for Australia against England at Leeds in 1930 and 295 by Wally Hammond for England against New Zealand at Auckland in 1932-33.
Virender Sehwag's 17th Test century is his third against Sri Lanka.
Sehwag's 284 not out against Sri Lanka at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai is his ninth century in Tests in India.
Sehwag has recorded twelve innings of 150 or more in Tests, including a world record of eleven hundreds of 150-plus in succession.
Virender Sehwag is the ninth Indian to make 6,000 runs or more in Tests.
Sehwag's feat of reaching 6,000 runs (6239) in 123 innings is the third fastest by an Indian, next only to the 117 by Sunil Gavaskar and 120 by Sachin Tendulkar. Rahul Dravid took 125 innings, followed by Mohammad Azharuddin (143), Gundappa Viswanath (151), Dilip Vengsarkar (155), VVS Laxman (158) and Sourav Ganguly (159).
Sehwag's brilliant knock was embellished with seven sixes and 40 fours, taking his sixes' tally to 75. He is now the eighth batsman in Test annals to have hit 70 sixes or more, joining Australa's Adam Gilchrist (100), West Indian, Brian Lara (88), New Zealand's Chris Cairns (87), West Indian, Vivian Richards (84), England's Andrew Flintoff (82), Australia's Matthew Hayden (82) and West Indian, Clive Lloyd (70).
Sehwag's tally of seven sixes is his highest in a Test innings, eclipsing his own record of six sixes during his triple hundred against Pakistan - 309 at Multan in 2003-04.
Sehwag, for the second time in his Test career, has recorded back to back hundreds - 131 against Sri Lanka at Green Park, Kanpur in the second Test of the series followed by 284 not out at Brabourne Stadium in the third Test.
Sehwag, for the second time in his Test career, has recorded two centuries in a Test series, his first instance being against Pakistan in the 2004-05 three-Test series in India, aggregating 544 at an average of 73.61.
The first occasion when he had made hundreds in successive innings was in the 2007-08 season, making 151 against Australia at Adelaide in January 2008 and 319 against South Africa at Chennai in March 2008.
Sehwag is the first Indian batsman to register six innings of 200 or more in Tests (including two triple hundreds), overtaking Rahul Dravid's tally of five double hundreds.
Sehwag's 284 not out off 239 balls is the highest individual score by an Indian batsman against Sri Lanka, surpassing his own record of 201 not out at Galle in 2008. Sehwag, thus, is the only batsman to make two double hundreds against Sri Lanka. Mohammad Azharuddin (199) had narrowly missed the feat - at Kanpur in 1986-87.
Sehwag's innings is the highest by any batsman at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. The other two batsmen to make double hundreds at this venue are - Vinoo Mankad - 223 against New Zealand in 1955-56 and Dilip Sardesai - 200 not out against New Zealand in 1964-65.
Sehwag's four innings of 250-plus is bettered only by Sir Donald Bradman (5).
Sehwag's feat of reaching 250 off 207 balls is a new record in Tests. He bettered his own record of recording the feat off 225 balls against South Africa during his triple century knock at Chennai in March 2008.
Sehwag is the only Indian batsman to make 200 runs in a day three times. No other Indian has recorded the feat even once.
Sehwag's feat of 168 balls is the second fastest double century, next only to the 153-ball double hundred by Nathan Astle against England at Christchurch in 2001-02.
India's total of 443 is their highest in a day's play, eclipsing the 417 for the loss of two wickets on the first day of the Kanpur Test in the second Test of the series.
Statistical highlights on day two of the third cricket Test between India and Sri Lanka at Brabourne Stadium on Thursday.
Topics mentioned in this article
Cricket
India Cricket Team
New Zealand Cricket Team
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