A first for Tendulkar

As Sachin Tendulkar moved back in his crease to play a Brett Lee delivery behind square leg during the tri-series opener in Brisbane, he did something that he hadn't till then in his 19-year career: he went too deep and trod on to his stumps for the first time in his 635th innings (237 in Tests and 408 in ODIs). This week we look at batsmen who have played the most innings before being dismissed in a particular way, or have not experienced a particular mode of dismissal at all.

Getting caught is the most common way of getting out but South Africa's Cuan McCarthy was dismissed in that manner just once in his 15-Test career. He played his first 19 innings without getting caught - the most by any player - before Jack Ikin held him off Alec Bedser at Old Trafford in his 20th innings. Corey Collymore holds the record in one-day internationals - he has played 35 innings in 84 games and is yet to get caught.

You would think that the batsman who'd have played the most innings before getting bowled would be someone with a tight technique - a Geoffrey Boycott or a Rahul Dravid. However, it's Adam Parore who went 76 Test innings before he was bowled for the first time, by Niroshan Bandaratilleke in Colombo in 1998. West Indian wicketkeeper Courtney Browne went his entire career - 30 innings in 20 Tests - without being bowled.

Muttiah Muralitharan has 182 lbw victims (Test and ODIs combined) in his illustrious bowling career, but his contemporaries found it hard to trap Murali lbw early in his career. He was not dismissed leg-before in his first 81 Test innings and his first 130 one-day innings. Ashley Giles was the first to dismiss Murali in that manner in Tests, and it wasn't until as late as 2006 that Murali was lbw for the first time in ODIs, to Mohammad Hafeez in Jaipur. Mohinder Amarnath holds the record for the longest ODI career without being lbw - 75 innings.

There are several players who have had long Test careers without being run out, and heading the list is Kapil Dev, who was never run out in 184 innings. A more remarkable feat is that Kapil was involved in only two run-outs in his entire Test career. On both occasions Syed Kirmani was the man run out, against West Indies in 1979 and 1983. The coincidence doesn't end there: Kapil went on to score centuries in both of those innings while Kirmani was dismissed for 30 both times. Mudassar Nazar, Graeme Hick and Peter May are the others who have played over 100 Test innings without being run out.

Nasser Hussain played 69 innings in one-day internationals before being run out, which is the most for ODIs. He was run out for the first time against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford in 2002. His mark is likely to stay for a while, for the two batsmen closest to his record are Maurice Odumbe (59 innings) and Glenn Turner (40 innings).

Two West Indians - Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Chris Gayle - hold the record for not being stumped in Tests and ODIs respectively. Chanderpaul's 183 innings without a stumping is the highest in Tests. Hussain, who played 171 innings, is in second place. Despite his attacking approach, Gayle hasn't been stumped yet in his 176-ODI career, which is a bit of a surprise - although, because he opens the batting, Gayle has less opportunity to play the spinners.

Roshan Mahanama and Daren Ganga lead the list of players who played the most Test innings before remaining not out. Mahanama was dismissed in all of his first 65 Test innings before an unbeaten 12 against Zimbabwe in Colombo in 1996. He was nearly overtaken by Ganga who was dismissed 64 times before a 66 not out against India in Basseterre in 2006.