Chennai: Virender Sehwag hammered his career's second Test triple century and the fastest of all time here Friday to join the legendary Australian Don Bradman and West Indies' Brian Lara.

Resuming at his overnight 52, Sehwag completed his career's 14th century on the third day of the first Test against South Africa.

This is Sehwag's second successive century, having scored 151 in the fourth Test against Australia in Adelaide in January. He reached the coveted 300-mark off 278 balls, cracking 41 boundaries and five sixes, which made his knock the fastest in the 131-year history of the game.

Only these three batsmen have scored two triple centuries in Test annals. Sehwag, who reached the landmark with a single off pacer Makhaya Ntini, become the first Indian to score a triple century March 29, 2004, when he scored 309 against Pakistan in Multan. Interestingly, his second triple ton came just a day before the fourth anniversary of his 309.

En route to his unbeaten triple century in the first cricket Test against South Africa here today, Virender Sehwag not just showcased his undoubted talent but also sent records tumbling almost at the same pace at which he scored his runs.

So far, Sehwag has scored four double centuries, the same as Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar, while Rahul Dravid tops this list with five.

His previous 200-plus scores were: 309 vs Pakistan at Multan (2004); 201 vs Pakistan at Bangalore (2005) and 254 vs Pakistan at Lahore (2006).

It was the 10th time that Sehwag scored more than 150 runs in an innings, behind Tendulkar's 17 and Gavaskar's 12.

Sehwag became the only Indian to score over 100 runs in a session twice, following his 109 between lunch and tea breaks at Lahore against Pakistan (2005-06). Today, he scored 108 between lunch and tea.

Other Indians to perform similar feats were: Md Azharuddin (103, lunch-tea, vs England at Manchester, 1990); VVS Laxman (121, post-tea, vs Australia at Sydney, 1999-2000); Yuvraj Singh (102, post-tea, vs Pakistan at Bangalore, 2006-07).

Sehwag became the highest run-getter in an innings at Chepauk, beating Gavaskar's 236 against the West Indies (1983-84).

He is only the third Indian to score a double century at Chepauk, following Gavaskar's 236 and GR Visvanath's 222 vs England (1981-82).

Sehwag also left Tendulkar (169, Cape Town, 1996-97) in the shade by becoming the highest Indian scorer in an innings against South Africa. In the process,he surpassed his own best of 164 that he compiled in the Kanpur Test (2004-05) and his previous highest at Chepauk was 155 against Australia in 2004-05.

The 213-run partnership for the first wicket with Wasim Jaffer overhauled the previous best of 200 between Gavaskar and Krishnamachari Srikkanth at Chepauk.

It was the fourth time that Sehwag was involved in a 200-plus partnership.

Sehwag and Jaffer also bettered their previous best partnership of 129 vs West Indies in 2006 and it was the third three-figure stand between the two.

Sehwag's scoring rate:

50 in 59 balls, 95 minutes, 6 x 4, 1 x 6;
100 in 116b, 199mins, 15 x 4, 1 x 6;
150 in 171b, 291mins, 23 x 4, 1 x 6;
200 in 194b, 331mins, 32 x 4, 2 x 6;
250 in 225b, 384mins, 39 x 4, 3 x 6
300 in 278b, 481mins, 42 x 4, 5 x 6.

Source : IANS