Statistical highlights of the third day's play in the third cricket Test between India and Australia at WACA, Perth, on Friday.
# VVS Laxman's 79 off 156 balls is his 31st fifty -- his seventh against Australia.
# Laxman, during the course of his 79, became the second batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to aggregate 300 runs in the current series - 303 at an average of 50.50).
# For the fourth time in his career, Laxman recorded 300-plus in a series, the details of which are as under:
- vs Australia, 2000-01 - 503 (ave.83.83) in 3 Tests.
- vs Australia, 2003-04 - 494 (ave.82.33) in 4 Tests.
- vs WestIndies, 2001-02 - 474 (ave.79.00) in 5 Tests.
- vs Australia, 2007-08 - 303 (ave.50.50) in 3 Tests.
# Laxman completed his 1000 runs against Australia in Australia - 1018 (ave.56.55) in 10 Tests, including four centuries and two fifties. He is the second Indian to accomplish the feat. Tendulkar (1356 at an average of 56.50 in 15 Tests) is the leading run-getter for India in Australia.
# Laxman has now amassed 1760 runs (ave.51.76) in 19 Tests against Australia, including five centuries and seven fifties. Only Tendulkar (2186 at an average of 54.65 in 24 Tests) has made more runs than Laxman for India against Australia.
# Laxman and Dhoni were associated in a stand of 75, which is India's best for the seventh wicket at Perth, eclipsing the 44 between Dhoni and Pathan in the first innings of the Test now-in-progress.
# Rudra Pratap Singh (30 off 59 balls) registered his career-best score, eclipsing his 17 against England at Lord's in 2007.
# Irfan Pathan completed his 1000 runs in Test Cricket - 1032 at an average of 31.27 in 27 Tests, with one century and six fifties.
# Pathan is the 53rd player to aggregate 1000 runs or more for India in Test cricket.
# Pathan's 46 is his second best score against Australia, next only to his 55 at Bangalore in October 2004.
# Sourav Ganguly registered his 10th duck - his first against Australia. Against South Africa, he has recorded most ducks (3).
# Tendulkar, after six innings in the present series, is the leading run-getter for India - 327 at an average of 65.40. He is the only Indian in the series to have averaged 60-plus. The averages of the other top players for India in the present series so far are - V.V.S.Laxman (50.50), Sourav Ganguly (35.00), Rahul Dravid (34.66), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (17.50), Wasim Jaffer (8.16).
# Tendulkar's performance in terms of run-aggregate is his best in a series in four years. The last time, he had made 300 runs in a Test series was against Australia in Australia in 2003-04 - 383 runs at an average of 76.60.
# Mahendra Singh Dhoni (38) registered his highest score against Australia, bettering his 35 at Sydney in the second Test of the series.
# Anil Kumble's 16th duck in Test cricket is his second against Australia. Only Bhagwat Chandrasekhar (23), Bishan Singh Bedi (20) and Zaheer Khan (17) have recorded more ducks than Kumble.
# Laxman and R P Singh put on 51 runs for the ninth wicket, which is India's second best at Perth, next only to the 81-run stand between Tendulkar and Kiran More in February 1992.
