Statistical highlights
KOLKATA, Feb 15 (IANS): Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar today became the fourth Indian batsman to score four back-to-back centuries in Tests.
Gautam Gambhir (5), Sunil Gavaskar (4) and Rahul Dravid (4) are the other three batsmen, who have scored four or more back-to-back centuries.
Tendulkar hit 106 in the first innings against South Africa on the second day of the second cricket Test and also became the first batsman to hit four hundreds this year.
The other statistical highlights of the day are:
* Sehwag and Tendulkar have shared a third wicket partnership record (249) for India against South Africa.
* That stand is the third of 200-plus by Sehwag-Tendulkar - their first two being the 336 for the third wicket against Pakistan at Multan in 2003-04, and 220 for the fifth wicket against South Africa at Bloemfontein in 2001-02.
* Tendulkar has now shared 16 partnerships of 200 or more - a world record, bettering the 15 by Australia's Ricky Ponting.
* This 249-run partnership is a third wicket record at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, surpassing the 211 by Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan for Pakistan against India in 2004-05.
* Sachin Tendulkar, with his 47th Test hundred, has extended his record for most centuries in Tests.
* He now shares a record for most centuries (21) at home with Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting.
* Tendulkar (6018) is the first Indian and the third player to aggregate 6,000 runs or more in Tests at home. Australia's Ricky Ponting holds the record with 6790 runs followed by West Indian Brian Lara (6217).
* Zaheer Khan (4/90) has registered his best bowling performance against South Africa on Indian soil.
* With their 35-run partnership, Wayne Parnell and Morne Morkel, have established a tenth wicket record for South Africa against India on Indian soil.
* Virender Sehwag, with his first ever hundred at Eden Gardens, has posted his 19th in Tests.
* Sehwag and Tendulkar, with five centuries each, share a record for most hundreds in India-South Africa Tests.
* Sehwag has registered 11 of his 19 centuries in India - 18 in the team's first innings and only one in the second.
* Virender Sehwag has become the third Indian batsman after Tendulkar (1415) and Rahul Dravid (1132) to complete 1,000 runs against South Africa - 1162 at an average of 58.10, including five hundreds and one fifty in 12 Tests.
* Sehwag's series aggregate of 290 is bettered only by Hashim Amla (367) in the 2009-10 series.
* Sehwag has made 13 innings of 150-plus, bettering Sunil Gavaskar's tally of 12 such knocks. Only Sachin Tendulkar has posted more innings of 150-plus in Tests (18) for India than Sehwag.
* The 73-run first-wicket partnership is India's highest against South Africa at Kolkata, eclipsing the 68 between Nayan Mongia and Rahul Dravid in 1996-97.
* Paul Harris has bowled 12 wides in India's innings, registering an unwanted record, outstripping Pakistan's Kabir Khan's tally of 9 wides in South Africa's second innings of 259 at Johannesburg in January 1995.
