Numbers Game: How Dhawan rewrote the record books

Shikhar Dhawan will not forget the third day of the ongoing Mohali Test for the rest of his life. Making his Test debut in place of Virender Sehwag, Dhawan pounced on to the opportunity and rewrote many records. He raced to his fifty off just 50 balls with 12 fours. It took him another 35 balls to score his second fifty. In doing so, Dhawan established a world record. Dhawan’s 85-ball hundred is now the fastest hundred by a batsman on his Test debut. West Indies’ Dwayne Smith held the previous record as he took 93 balls for his hundred against South Africa at Cape Town in 2003-04. [caption id=“attachment_664109” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The record-breaker Shikhar Dhawan in action. PTI[/caption] Dhawan’s 85-ball hundred is also the fourth fastest by an Indian in Test cricket. The record is shared by Kapil Dev and Mohammad Azharuddin with 74-ball hundreds, followed by a 78-ball hundred by Virender Sehwag. Between lunch and tea, Dhawan scored 106 runs. He became only the fourth batsman to score hundred runs in a session on Test debut after West Indies’ Dwayne Smith, England’s Matt Prior and Bangladesh’s Abul Hasan. Dhawan is only the seventh Indian player to score a hundred in a session. Dhawan also became 13th Indian to score a hundred on Test debut. His innings is easily the highest by an Indian on Test debut, eclipsing Gundappa Viswanath’s 137 also against Australia at Kanpur in 1969-70. In all Test cricket, there have been only five scores higher than Dhawan’s 185* on Test debut. Incidentally Dhawan is the first Indian opener to score a hundred on Test debut. His innings is now the second highest by any opener on debut in all Test cricket. Dhawan was involved in an unbroken 283-run partnership with Murali Vijay.  Fastest centuries on Test debut  Fastest centuries by Indian batsmen in Test cricket  Century in a session on Test debut  Indian batsmen scoring a century in a session  Highest scores by Indian batsmen on Test debut  Highest scores on Test debut  Highest scores by openers on Test debut  Highest first partnerships in Test cricket  Note: At Karachi Abdul Kadir was also making his Test debut.