Truly, a wonderful knock: Gavaskar

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, whose highest individual Test score of 236 was bettered by V V S Laxman on Wednesday, in the second Test against Australia, described the latter's innings as "truly wonderful".

In a statement, the second highest Test run-getter, with 10,122 runs to his credit, said: "Hope this will just be the first of many such knocks from Laxman.

"Laxman being a staunch devotee of Sathya Sai Baba it is even more a happier occasion to celebrate."

The statement added: "My congratulations to Laxman for scoring an unbeaten 275 on the fourth day of the Kolkata Test. I am very happy for him because of the circumstances under which the record came about.

"For a country that has been playing Test cricket for close to seven decades, 236 was a pretty poor highest individual score especially with players from other countries scoring highest individual scores nearer the triple century mark despite their countries getting Test status decades later.

"It is for this reason I had been virtually pleading for someone to go past it and carry on to many more individual milestones."

You can also read:

Day 4 match report
Laxman interview - 'One of my best knocks'

Mail Cricket Editor