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3-star Younis in elite company

February 25, 2009 15:03 IST

Younis Khan got his name into the record books by becoming only the 20th batsman (on the 23rd occasion) to score a triple century in Test cricket.

He is only the sixth Test captain to score a triple century, while his 313 is the third-highest score by a Pakistan batsman behind Hanif Mohammad's 337 and Inzamam-ul-Haq 329.

Younis' innings is also the highest by any batsman against Sri Lanka. The previous highest was Martin Crowe's 299 at Wellington in 1990-91.

Highest scores by captains:

Score Batsman For Vs Venue Season
400* B Lara WI Eng St.John's 2003-04
374 M Jayawardene SL SA Colombo SSC 2006
334* M Taylor Aus Pak Peshawar 1998-99
333 G Gooch Eng Ind Lord's 1990
311 B Simpson Aus Eng Manchester 1964
306* Younis Khan Pak SL Karachi 2008-09

Highest scores against each country:

Against Score Batsman For Venue Season
Australia 364 L Hutton Eng The Oval 1938
England 400* B Lara WI St.John's 2003-04
South Africa 374 M Jayawardene SA Colombo SSC 2006
West Indies 337 Hanif Mohammad Pak Bridgetown 1957-58
New Zealand 336* W Hammond Eng Auckland 1932-33
India 340 S Jayasuriya SL Colombo RPS 1997-98
Pakistan 365* G Sobers WI Kingston 1957-58
Sri Lanka 306* Younis Khan Pak Karachi 2008-09
Zimbabwe 380 M Hayden Aus Perth 2003-04
Bangladesh 261* R Sarwan WI Kingston 2004

The match also provided the first instance of both captains scoring a double-century in the same game. The one occasion when this nearly happened was more than 30 years ago, when West Indies skipper Alvin Kallicharran scored 187 at Mumbai Wankhede in 1978 after the opposite number Sunil Gavaskar had scored 205.

It is only the second time in Tests that three batsmen scored more than 200 in the same Test. The only previous occasion was in 1965, in a Test between Australia and West Indies at Bridgetown, when Bill Lawry (210), Bob Simpson (201) and Seymour Nurse (201) all scored double hundreds.

Rajneesh Gupta