NEW DELHI: It was on March 29, 2004, when Virender Sehwag became the first Indian batsman to score a triple century in the longest format of the game.
He achieved the feat against Pakistan at Multan in the first Test of the three-match series. Sourav Ganguly had missed the first two Tests of the series, and it was Rahul Dravid who led the side in his place.
In the first Test of the three-match series, India opted to bat first and finished the first day of the Test at a score of 356/2 with Sehwag unbeaten on 228. On the second day of the match, Sehwag went on to register his triple century.
Remembering this triple ton of his, Sehwag on Monday tweeted: “29th March- a special date for me. Had the privilege and honour of becoming the first Indian to score a triple hundred in Test cricket. Icing in the cake was to score against Pakistan in Multan. Coincidentally 4 years later on the same date got out on 319 against South Africa.”
What made the feat more remarkable is that he hit a six off the bowling of Saqlain Mushtaq when he was batting on 295 to reach the triple century mark. Along the way, Sehwag also went on to register the highest score by an Indian batsman against Pakistan in Pakistan.
Sanjay Manjrekar had held the record previously as he scored 218 in Lahore in 1989. Sehwag was finally sent back to the pavilion by Mohammad Sami after playing a knock of 309 runs, and this helped India register a comfortable victory.
However, March 29 is all the more special for Sehwag, as four years later, in 2008, he went on score his second triple century. He recorded his second triple ton against South Africa in Chennai on March 29, 2008.
On the third day of the match, Sehwag reached his career-best of 309 runs, and on the fourth day, he went on to add ten more runs taking his individual score to 319. Apart from Sehwag, Karun Nair is the only Indian batsman to record a triple century. He had achieved the feat against England in Chennai in 2016. (ANI)
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