Veteran New Zealand cricketer Ross Taylor on Friday became the first player ever to play 100 matches each in all the three formats – ODIs, T20Is and Tests. The right-handed batsman achieved the feat when he took the field against India in the first Test at the Basin Reserve.
Meanwhile, he became the fourth Kiwi to play 100 Tests for New Zealand by joining Stephen Fleming, Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum in the list. McCullum, Stephen Fleming and Daniel Vettori have played 101, 111, and 112 Tests, respectively.
Taylor, who made his debut in 2006, has so far played 100* Tests, 231 ODIs and 100 T20Is. He is already New Zealand’s leading run-scorer in Tests and ODIs with 7,174 and 8,570 runs, respectively.
In 100 T20Is, the prolific number 4 has scored 1,909 runs and is only behind Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill in the list of highest run-getters for the Kiwis in the shortest format of the game.
“I think I am still good enough to this team by fine enough to field and still hungry to score runs. I am happy for that,” the 35-year-old had said before the start of the Test as quoted by IANS.
Talking about the ongoing match, debutant Kyle Jamieson’s 3 for 38 rendered India in a precarious situation of 122 for 5 before rain could stop the play. Though it stopped raining after a while, wet outfield restricted the players from coming to the ground.
Brief Scores: 122/5 (Ajinkya Rahane 38*, Mayank Agarwal 34; Kyle Jamieson 3/38)
