Chennai Test: 4th day's statistical highlights...
Mohandas Menon
• Matthew Hayden's aggregate of 549 runs for this series is the maximum by any visiting batsman in India in a three-or-less match Test series. He bettered the previous highest tally of 540 runs by Zimbabwean batsman Andy Flower, who made these runs in November last year in just two Test matches.
• For the record, the only other batsmen to aggregate more than Hayden in a three-or-less match Test series against India are: Graham Gooch - 752 runs (in England in 1990); Zaheer Abbas - 583 runs (in Pakistan in 1978-79) and Sanath Jayasuriya - 571 runs (in Sri Lanka in 1997-98). Incidentally Gooch's aggregate is a Test record for a three-match Test series, while Jayasuriya's tally came in a two-match Test series, which is also a Test record.
• While capturing the wicket of Shane Warne, Harbhajan Singh became the 27th Indian bowler and the 262nd bowler in Test history to capture 50 wickets in a career.
• Playing in his 11th Test match, Harbhajan became the joint second quickest among Indian bowlers to reach this landmark in least number of matches. Leg-spinner Anil Kumble holds the Indian record by doing so in his only 10th match in 1993. Narendra Hirwani, another leggie, had achieved his landmark in his 11th match (same as Harbhajan) in 1990.
• Harbhajan, however is the second quickest (shared by three other bowlers) to reach the 50-wicket mark in least number of Test matches among off-spin bowlers in history. The record is held by Australian George Palmer who needed just 10 matches to reach his 50th wicket, way back in 1884. Harbhajan, however is in good company among other great off-spinners, such as West Indian Sonny Ramadhin (in 1951-52), South African Hugh Tayfield (in 1952-53) and Australian Ashley Mallett (in 1972) - as they all needed 11 Test matches to reach their 50 wickets. Previously the quickest by an Indian off-spinner was by EAS Prasanna who needed 12 matches to achieve his landmark in 1967-68.
• At 20 years 261 days Harbhajan became the fourth youngest bowler in Test history to capture 50 wickets after Pakistani pace bowler Waqar Younis (19 years 8 days in 1990-91), New Zealand's left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori (19 years 136 days in 1997-98) and India's Kapil Dev (20 years 17 days in 1979-80).
• Harbhajan has now taken his tally of wickets to 29 for this series. Now only the following bowlers have taken more wickets in a three-match Test series than Harbhajan - 35 by England pace bowler George Lohmann (in 1895-96 in South Africa), 34 wickets by another England paceman Syd Barnes (in 1912 against South Africa), 33 wickets by New Zealand's supremo Sir Richard Hadlee (in 1985-86 in Australia) and 30 wickets by Pakistani leg-spinner Abdul Qadir (in 1987-88 against England).
• Harbhajan now has the maximum wickets (29) by an off-spinner in a Test series against Australia after England's Jim Laker (46 wickets in 5 matches in 1956) and South African Hugh Tayfield (30 wickets in five matches in 1952-53 in Australia).
• With just three more wickets available, Harbhajan has a good chance to surpass the tally of 31 wickets by left-arm spinner Bishen Bedi (in 5 matches in Australia, 1977-78) - the maximum wickets in a series by an Indian bowler against Australia. However Harbhajan has gone past the aggregate of 28 wickets by pace bowler Kapil Dev (in six matches during the 1979-80 series) - the maximum by an Indian bowler against Australia at home.
• By taking five-wicket hauls in his last four innings, Harbhajan became the first Indian bowler to do so. Leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan (in 1984-85) and pace bowler Javagal Srinath (in 1998-99/1999-00) have achieved this feat in three consecutive innings.
• When he held the catch of Ponting, Rahul Dravid became the eight Indian and the 67th fieldsman to take 50 catches in a Test career. By doing do in his 43rd Test match, Dravid became the second quickest in least Tests, after Eknath Solkar among Indian fielders. Incidentally Solkar achieved his milestone in just 26 matches in 1975-76, which still remains a Test record.
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