On 155, Gautam Gambhir bettered the highest score by an Indian opener at the Kotla. Vijay Merchant had made 154 vs England as opener in 1951-52.

On 156, Gambhir bettered the highest score by an Indian opener vs Australia on Indian soil. His partner Virender Sehwag had made 155 vs Australia in Chennai in 2004-05.

On 186, Gambhir recorded the highest score by a left-handed opener vs Australia in Tests. England’s Bob Barber had scored 185 in Sydney in 1965-66.

On 200, Gambhir registered his first double century in Tests. It is, however, his sixth double in any form of cricket. He has scored 2 double centuries in the U-19 level, (including a 212 vs England U-19 in Chennai in January 2001) and 3 at the first-class level. His highest first-class score of 233* was for Delhi vs Railways in the Ranji Trophy in Delhi in 2002-03.

On 206, Gambhir equalled the highest individual score by an Indian opener against Australia. Ravi Shastri had also scored 206 at Sydney in 1991-92.

The partnership of Gambhir and V.V.S. Laxman erased the following records:

On 146, the partnership between Gambhir and Laxman bettered the previous highest fourth wicket partnership for India at the Kotla. Dilip Vengsarkar and Ravi Shastri had made 145 for the fourth wicket against the West Indies in 1983-84.

On 160, the Gambhir-Laxman partnership also bettered the previous best fourth wicket partnership vs Australia at “home”. Vengsarkar and Vishwanath had put on 159 in Bangalore in 1979-80.

On 200, the Gambhir-Laxman combination registered the 10th double hundred partnership by an Indian left hand-right hand combination. Gambhir has been involved in three of them now. The other two being 259 with Rahul Dravid vs Bangladesh in Chittagong and 218 with Sehwag vs SA in Kanpur.

On 214, the Gambhir-Laxman pair registered the highest partnership for any wicket by India at the Kotla. Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar had put on 213 for the third wicket vs Zimbabwe in 2000-01.

On 268, Gambhir and Laxman recorded the highest partnership for any wicket at the Kotla. The previous best was 267 for the fourth wicket by Clyde Walcott and Gerry Gomez way back in 1948-49.

Laxman has now been involved in four double century partnerships against Australia in Tests. David Gower (Eng), Brian Lara (WI), Sir Len Hutton (Eng) and Richie Richardson (WI) have all been involved in three.

On 73, Laxman bettered his previous highest score at the Kotla. He had scored 72* vs Pakistan in 2007-08.

On 123, Laxman scored 2000 runs vs Australia. He is the 17th overall and the second Indian after Tendulkar (2580) to score 2000 runs vs Australia.

It was the 14th time two scores of 200 plus were scored in a single innings of a Test. However, it was for the first time that two Indian batsmen scored double hundreds in a single innings. The closest India have come to this was when Sehwag scored 309 and Tendulkar 194* vs Pakistan in Multan in 2003-04.

Laxman became the third cricketer to score a double century in his 99th Test. This club consists of only Indians — Sunil Gavaskar, Sourav Ganguly and now Laxman.

Compiled by Mohandas Menon