After a while, you stopped counting. Records started tumbling left, right and centre on the fourth day of the fifth Test at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai. It is a stadium which has witnessed an Indian triple century and it felt just right when Karun Nair after getting to his double century, decided to cruise on and become only the second Indian to reach that magical landmark.

England had given up. The wheels had fallen off. Ravichandran Ashwin and Nair put on a 181-run partnership which took India’s score from a manageable 435/5 to an imposing 616/6. And it was still not over. Then Ravindra Jadeja came in to join Karun Nair. The two went hell for leather, putting on 138 runs in just 19.1 overs, at a run rate of 7.2.

And Nair went into overdrive. The double-century came just after tea, off 306 balls. Forty two balls later, his 250 had come up, in a blaze of fours and sixes. And if you thought that was impressive, he took only 33 balls to bring up a historic triple century. No nerves, no loss of concentration. Just destructive, blazing hitting. And he’s playing only his third Test match. Karun Nair. Take a bow.

When the dust settled, India had declared at 759/7, their highest ever Test score in history and a lead of 282 runs. In the five overs played out, England reached 11/0, still slightly shell-shocked and still trailing by 270 runs.

Record-breaking achievements

  • Karun Nair became only the second Indian to hit a Test triple century after Virender Sehwag who did it twice. His unbeaten 303 is the third-highest individual score in Indian Test history.
  • Karun Nair became the sixth Indian batsman to score a century in this series. Only the second time India have done this in a series, the last time was against West Indies in 1978-’79.
  • Nair became only the fourth Indian batsman to score a 250 in a Test match. The three others who have done it are: Virender Sehwag (four times), Rahul Dravid (once) and VVS Laxman (once)
  • KL Rahul’s 199 was only the ninth such instance of a batsman being dismissed for that score in all Test match cricket.
  • Karun Nair’s 303 not out is the highest score by an Indian batsman against England, going past Virat Kohli’s 235 which was made in the last Test.
  • Nair is the only Indian batsman and third overall to have converted a maiden Test century into a triple century. The other two are Garfield Sobers and Bob Simpson.
  • India’s 759/7 declared is their highest Test score. It is also the highest team score at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Brief scores:

England 12/0 and 477 trail India 759/7 declared (Karun Nair 303 not out, KL Rahul 199; Stuart Broad 2/80, Liam Dawson 2/129) by 270 runs