Sadly, India’s Virender Sehwag could not continue on Saturday where he left off on Friday, soon falling to South Africa’s second new ball, 81 short of Brian Lara’s world record for the highest innings (400 not out) in test cricket.
His 319 was nonetheless by far the fastest triple century ever compiled in test matches—he reached 300 off 278 balls, 84 balls fewer than Matthew Hayden, the previous record-holder. It was Sehwag’s second triple century, a feat that puts him in an exclusive club with Brian Lara, the leading run-scorer in tests, and Don Bradman, the greatest batsman ever.
But it was the manner of this innings that was extraordinary, described by Sehwag’s captain, Rahul Dravid, as “like watching a highlights package” (which you can do here). Sehwag’s second and third hundreds took him 78 and 84 balls—to hit two centuries in an entire test career at that sort of speed is an achievement exclusive, I believe, to Adam Gilchrist and Ian Botham, but to sustain it over an entire day is unprecedented. The heat and humidity in Chennai make it all the more remarkable, as does the fact that the South African attack was experienced to the tune of 718 test wickets and has a bowler, Dale Steyn, with one of the best strike rates of all time.
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