Alviro Peterson Sunday became the third South African batsman to score a century on debut.
Petersen, drafted into the playing XI after Mark Boucher was down with back spasm, scored a confident and chanceless 100 off 164 balls on the opening day of the second cricket Test against India at the Eden Gardens here.
The other two debutants are Andrew Hudson (163 against West Indies at Bridgetown in April 1992) and Jacques Rudolph (222 not out against Bangladesh at Chittagong in April 2003).
The other statistical highlights of the day are:
India have lost five tosses in a row in Tests.
South Africa, in all three Tests played at Eden Gardens, have won the tosses - in 1996-97, 2004-05 and 2009-10.
Hashim Amla has posted two consecutive hundreds for the second time in Tests - 253 not out at Nagpur followed by 114 at Kolkata. The first occasion was the 2007-08 series against New Zealand, making an unbeaten 176 at Johannesburg and 103 at Centurion.
Amla has posted his ninth hundred in Tests - his third against India. Thanks to his century, he became the first player to amass 500 in 2010, aggregating 551 at an average of 137.75, including two hundreds and two fifties in five innings (four Tests).
With three vital wickets for 60 runs, Harbhajan has taken his wickets' tally at Eden Garden to 41 (ave.22.87) in only seven games, setting in the process a bowling record, bettering Anil Kumble's tally of 40 wickets (ave.30.82) in eight Tests.
Amla and Petersen have shared a partnership of 209 for the second wicket. The partnership is South Africa's second highest at Eden Gardens - the highest being the 212 between Daryll Cullinan and Gary Kirsten in 1996-97.
Alviro Petersen's magnificent knock is the highest by any batsman for South Africa on debut against India, outstripping Zander de Bruyn's 83 in the 2004-05 Kanpur Test.
In one of their worst batting collapses, South Africa have lost six wickets, adding only ten runs - 251 for 3 to 261 for 9. This is their second worst collapse against India, next only to the 1996-97 Ahmedabad Test, when they had lost six wickets for just nine runs - 96 for four to 105 all out.
Amla's aggregate of 367 (ave.367.00) in the series, his career-best, including two hundreds, with a career-best of 253 not out at Nagpur, is a new record for South Africa against India, eclipsing Neil McKenzie's tally of 341 (ave.85.25), including one century and one fifty in the three-Test series in 2007-08.
Amla's run-aggregate of 367 before being dismissed is a record against India, outstripping Pakistan's Javed Miandad's tally of 365 in two innings - 280 not out at Hyderabad (Niaz) and 85 at Lahore - before being dismissed in 1982-83