It was a day of records, with India scoring their highest ever total in Test match cricket, the 759 also being the highest score any team has scored against England, but the one that, obviously, stood out was the magnificent triple century from Karun Nair, who after a couple of iffy Test innings, showed he belongs in this format with a knock of the highest class.
Having seen his Karnataka teammate agonisingly get out for 199 on Sunday, Karun Nair would have just told himself "OK, let's just get my maiden Test match century, and then I'll take it from there."
He got to that easily enough, with a nice boundary, and then he just went on and on and on, making the 199 of KL Rahul look like a miniscule score and soon becoming only the second ever Indian to reach an individual score of 300 and more. Virender Sehwag, of course, is the other one, having done it twice, but for Karun Nair to join the legendary opener and go past the scores of Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and his own captain Virat Kohli, who notched 235 in Mumbai in the previous Test match, to just name a few, would have been special.
"It is the best knock I have played in my life," Karun said after play on day four. "There were many different situations (in my innings). "When I had to play with Rahul, and then differently with (Murali) Vijay, (R Ashwin) and (Ravindra) Jadeja. I have to thank them as well."
It was far from a chanceless innings from the 25-year-old, with Alastair Cook dropping him on day three when he was only on 34 and then a decision, when he seemed to nick one while playing a reverse-sweep, also going his way. Karun was dropped having crossed his double hundred by Joe Root in the slips as well, but, what makes a batsman great is that he takes advantage of the chances presented to him. And with the pressure firmly on him having failed in his first two Test match innings, he grabbed the opportunity at the third time of asking with a triple century of the highest order.
"The first hundred was important, and when I got the first hundred, I didn't feel any pressure, I was playing my shots after that," Nair added.
After he got to his double hundred early in the final session, it looked like India might declare at any time. However, with Kohli happy to keep the England players on the field and increase their agony, Karun, in T20 mode now, soon went to 250. The 300 looked out of reach, because stumps was closing in and a declaration seemed imminent.
However, Karun Nair forced Kohli's hand by quickly moving to the 270s and then the 280s. The India decided to hold off the declaration and Karun sealed his place in history.
"The message after 250 was to go after the bowling," Karun revealed. "We had a set number of overs (to bowl to England) in mind, and I just went for the fours and boundaries. When I got closer (to the triple hundred), they pushed the declaration and I would like to thank them."
Watch the highlights of the triple century HERE
