Wellington: Rahul Dravid set a world record for most catches by a fielder when he snapped up Tim McIntosh at third slip to leave New Zealand struggling at 37 for one at lunch on the fourth day of the third Test on Monday (April 06).

Dravid had opened his 'catch' account by snaring Nasser Hussain off Javagal Srinath in his debut Test at Lords against England in June 1996. After taking 182 catches he is way ahead of Ricky Ponting (148 in 131 Tests), Jacques Kallis (147 in 131) and Mahela Jayawardene (142 in 102) among current players. The milestone had been on his mind for quite a while. Therefore, when he achieved it, he showed rare emotion by planting a kiss on the ball.
 
Besides catches, the prolific batsman has also achieved milestones in batting by scoring 10823 runs from 134 matches at an average of 52.53 with 26 hundreds and 57 fifties. Particularly the current New Zealand tour has been very fantastic for him as he has scored 66, 8 not out, 83, 62, 35 and 60 in his last six innings.

The hosts are chasing an improbable 617 to win the match at the Basin Reserve, and save the series, after India skipper MS Dhoni declared their second innings closed on 434 for seven after 75 minutes play in the first session.

Dhoni unbeaten 56, his 16th test half century, while Zaheer Khan was on 18 when the visitors ended their innings.

Zaheer then combined with Dravid to dismiss McIntosh for four in the 11th over of New Zealand's innings, to give the Indian his 182nd catch in his 134th Test match. The previous record of 181 was held by Australia's Mark Waugh.

Play started 30 minutes early on Monday after bad light halted the game with 8.1 overs remaining on Sunday.