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99, and all that

For trivia buffs, here's a hot one.

At Nagpur, Saurav Ganguly experiences the ultimate agony for a batsman -- out for 99. One short of what would have been the third century in as many successive innings.

94 seconds -- give or take a second -- later, in Hobart, Australian batsman Greg Blewett begins the long walk back to the pavilion. His score? 99.

If you want to stretch the point and look for more similarities, both knocks were studded with 13 boundaries. Though Ganguly, whose 99 came off 188 deliveries, got there a shade ahead of Blewett who took 208 deliveries to get to the highest possible two figure score.

The manner of their dismissals, though, varied. Ganguly's intended drive off Pushpakumara found the edge and landed in the hands of Tillekeratne, the only close in fielder, in slip. Blewett played all over a fuller length one from Simon Doull and was castled.

In the event, batsmen have been out for 99 before. But two of them, within seconds of each other? Lady Luck must have been in a real perverse mood, on November the 28th.