Mitchell Starc reaches 450 Test wickets, surpassing Glenn McGrath's record

The South African off-spinner, Simon Harmer, achieved a remarkable feat in the second match of the series against Australia, entering history books. Harmer scored an impressive 82 runs, thereby breaking Dale Steyn's 18-year record.

He reached this result at a time when the South African team was in a difficult situation and desperately needed a big partnership. On Tuesday, the third day of the match played at Centurion Park in Gqeberha, Harmer faced 91 deliveries, scoring 10 fours and one six.

This figure is the highest for a South African batsman batting at number 9 or lower against Australia in Test matches. The previous record was 76 runs, set by Dale Steyn during a match in Melbourne in 2008.

In the first innings, South Africa lost six wickets for 110 runs. Following this, captain Temba Bavuma and Marco Jansen stabilized the game, adding 132 runs for the seventh wicket. Jansen departed after scoring 85 runs, after which Harmer supported Bavuma. Both players formed a crucial partnership on the eighth wicket, accumulating 183 runs.

This is the second-largest partnership on the eighth wicket or lower in South African history. The record is currently held by Marco Boucher and Pete Symcox, who scored 195 runs against Pakistan in 1998.

For his part, captain Temba Bavuma demonstrated exceptional patience and technique under pressure, scoring 179 runs off 334 balls, including 18 fours and one six. When the team score was only 12 runs with two wickets down on the first day, Bavuma took responsibility and prevented the innings from collapsing.

Simon Harmer had the opportunity to earn his first hundred in Test matches, but Marnus Labuschagne dismissed him. After South Africa fell victim to Mitchell Starc, they declared the innings closed at 425/9. By the end of the third day, Australia had scored three runs for the loss of one wicket. Kagiso Rabada dismissed Nick Maddinson, preventing him from scoring any runs.

Following the conclusion of the series against the West Indies, where Indian batsman Abhishek Sharma's performance did not meet expectations, he is fully prepared to dominate the Kiwi bowlers on New Zealand soil.

In the five-match T20 series starting on October 22nd in Christchurch, Abhishek intends to display aggressive play, aiming to hit numerous fours and sixes. Given his ability to intimidate opponents with his assertive batting, he has an excellent opportunity to set not one, but three significant records in this series.

This year (2026), Abhishek demonstrated impressive form in T20Is, hitting 70 sixes, which is the highest number of sixes among Indian players in a calendar year. Currently, his T20I statistics show only 143 sixes.

If he scores another 7 sixes in the series against New Zealand, he will become the third Indian player to reach the milestone of 150 sixes in T20Is. He is only surpassed by Rohit Sharma (205) and Suryakumar Yadav (179).

His form in T20 Internationals in 2026 has been very good. In 34 matches this year, he has scored 956 runs at an average rate of 201.68, including one century and eight half-centuries. He is only 44 runs away from reaching the 1000-run mark in T20Is.

Upon achieving this goal, he will join the elite club alongside Suryakumar Yadav (1164 runs in 2022) and Ishan Kishan (1158 runs in 2026) as the third Indian player. Abhishek is making waves not only on the international stage but also in the IPL and domestic cricket.

Overall, in 217 matches, Abhishek has scored 6437 runs at an average of 32.84 and a strike rate of 178.11. He is only 63 runs away from reaching the 6500-run mark. It is worth noting that Abhishek already has 10 centuries in T20 cricket and, along with Virat Kohli, is one of India's leading players in this aspect.