Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar, whose highest individual Test score of 236 was bettered by VVS Laxman today in the second Test match against Australia, described the latter's innings as "truly wonderful" and hoped "this will just be the first of many such knocks from Laxman."

Gavaskar, the second highest Test run getter with more than 10,000 runs to his credit, in a statement, said that Laxman being a staunch devotee of Sathya Sai Baba, it is a happier occasion to celebrate. Gavaskar too is a follower of Satya Sai Baba.

"My congratulations to Laxman for scoring an unbeaten 275 on the fourth day of the Kolkata Test and I am very happy for him because of the circumstances under which the record came about," the statement adds.

"For a country that has been playing Test cricket for close to seven decades, 236 (highest individual score by an Indian) was a pretty poor highest individual score especially with players from other countries scoring highest individual scores nearer the triple century mark despite their countries getting Test status decades later," the statement said. "It is for this reason I had been virtually pleading for someone to go past it (record) and carry on to many more individual milestones," the statement added.

© PTI