Experienced New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor has created history by becoming the first player ever to play 100 matches in all the three formats of the game. He achieved the feat when he took the field against India in the first Test starting Friday at the Basin Reserve.
Taylor, who last month played his 100th T20I in the five-match series against India, has also played 231 ODIs for the Black Caps.
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 No. 4 has scored 1,909 runs and is behind Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill in the list of highest run-getters for the Kiwis in the shortest format of the game.
Besides Taylor, McCullum, Stephen Fleming and Daniel Vettori have played 101, 111, and 112 Tests respectively for New Zealand.
"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, who made his debut in 2006, had said before the start of the Test.
As the news broke out, cricket fans and statisticians lauded the unique feat.
Test match No.💯 for Ross Taylor! 🙌 He becomes the first player ever to play 100 matches in all three international formats! 🎉 #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/GxmK3IufDK— ICC (@ICC) February 20, 2020
Ross Taylor walked out with his kids for his 100th Test 💞#NZvIND Test Series 2020 pic.twitter.com/qD2Ifwe1kp— Mukesh Rao (@MukeshR21967890) February 20, 2020
100 matches played inTest - 67 playersODI - 263 playersT20I - 3 playersAll Formats - Ross Taylor*#NZvIND— CricBeat (@Cric_beat) February 21, 2020
First to appear in -50 Tests, ODIs & T20Is: Brendon McCullum (23 Sep 2012)100 Tests, ODIs & T20Is: Ross Taylor (21 Feb 2020)#NZvIND— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) February 20, 2020
Congratulations @RossLTaylor on such an amazing achievement. I’m sure all of your family and friends are extremely proud of you as is the whole of NZ. Fantastic man, father, husband, friend and cricketer. Although a terrible 500 partner. Go well mate #NZvIND #rosstaylor #100— Mitchell McClenaghan (@Mitch_Savage) February 21, 2020
Ross Taylor should be called Mr. Cricket 100 Matches in all formats 👏🏼 @RossLTaylor #INDvsNZ @ICC— Karan Patel (@patelkaran952) February 21, 2020
Congrats to Luteru Ross Poutoa Lote Taylor on becoming the first cricketer to play 100+ matches in each of three formats!!#rosstaylor #INDvNZ #INDvsNZTestCricket— Yash Mittal 🇮🇳 (@im_yash2307) February 20, 2020
(With IANS inputs)