Statistical highlights from the first day's play of the third Test between India and England played at Edgbaston.
# Alastair Cook's unbeaten 52 is his first fifty in nine innings. He had last recorded a half-century in Tests against Australia -- 60 at Sydney in January 2011.
# Cook's third fifty against India is his 25th in Tests.
# Since posting a century in each innings (123 & 108) of the Chennai Test in December 2008, the fifty is Cook's first in seven innings against India.
# Andrew Strauss and Cook have recorded England's highest opening stand against India in the present rubber, surpassing the 23 in the second innings at Lord's.
# Since registering 98 against Australia at Sydney in January this year, the 84-run unbroken partnership is the first fifty-plus in nine innings for Cook and Strauss.
# As a bowler, Stuart Broad recorded his best performance in a Test series, capturing 19 wickets at 11.73 runs apiece. His previous best tally in a Test series was 18 (ave.30.22) in the 2009 Ashes series (five Tests) against Australia.
# Broad is the top wicket-taker in the present series.
# Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Praveen Kumar put on 84 for the eighth wicket -- India's best at Edgbaston, surpassing the 68 between Roger Binny and Kiran More in 1986.
# India's highest stand for the eighth wicket in England is 97 between Madan Lal and Sandeep Patil at Manchester in 1982.
# Dhoni (77 off 96 balls) has posted his third Test fifty in England. He had posted two fifties in the 2007 Test series -- 92 at The Oval and 76 not out at Lord's.
# Dhoni's fifth fifty against England is his 22nd in Tests. He has posted 11 fifties each in India and overseas.
# Dhoni has recorded three centuries and 13 fifties as captain.
# Dhoni is the first Indian skipper to make a fifty at Edgbaston, Birmingham, eclipsing Tiger Pataudi's 47 in 1967.
# Dhoni became the first Indian captain to hit three sixes in a Test innings at Edgbaston, surpassing S Venkataraghavan's two during his innings of 28 off 46 balls in 1979.
# Praveen Kumar (26 off 39 balls) posted his career-best score, eclipsing the 25 off 25 balls against England at Trent Bridge in the current series.
# Virender Sehwag's fifth duck against England is his 13th in Tests. He has recorded six ducks in the first innings and seven in the second innings.
# Gautam Gambhir (38) recorded his highest innings in England in Tests, outstripping the 22 in the second innings at Lord's last month.
# Laxman (30) has totalled 154 runs in five innings at an average of 30.80, including two fifties in the present series -- the second highest by an Indian, next only to Dravid's tally of 284 (ave.71.00) in three Tests.
