Shaun Marsh run out for 99

Shaun Marsh made an unwanted piece of Test cricket history on Tuesday, becoming just the third Australian to be run out for 99.

The West Australian fell agonisingly short - both numerically and at the southern end of the MCG - of what would have been his third Test century on the final day of this third Commonwealth Bank Test against India.

Having batted patiently throughout the morning session, Marsh upped the ante in the overs before lunch by blasting Ravichandran Ashwin down the ground for a six, a four and a two in consecutive balls to move to 98.

A single of the third ball of the next over saw Marsh move to 99 before he faced up to Umesh Yadav with just one run needed to reach three figures.

With the field up, Marsh could only manage five dot balls before he bunted the sixth ball of the over down the ground and immediately called for a run.

It was always going to be a risky single and his desperate dive was not enough as Virat Kohli's throw from mid-off broke the stumps.

The 31-year-old joins elite company in being run out for 99; the only other Australians to 'acheive' the feat were Bill Brown (in 1948) and Arthur Morris (1953).

He is the 16th player overall to be run out for 99 in a Test match and the first since India skipper MS Dhoni against England in 2012.

The other men on the list are Angelo Mathews, Neil McKenzie, Jacques Kallis, Mahela Jayawardene, Mike Atherton, Dipak Patel, Graham Gooch, Mushtaq Mohammad, Mike Smith, Motganhalli Jaisimha, Rohan Kanhai and John Beck.

There have been 88 instances of batsmen dismissed for 99 in Test cricket, the most recent of which came in Adelaide two weeks ago when Murali Vijay was adjudged LBW to Nathan Lyon just one short of the milestone.

The last Australian to be dismissed for 99 was Mitchell Starc last year, also against India.