NEWS
OTHER SPORTS
DIARY
PEOPLE
MATCH REPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Statistical highlights: 3rd Test - India v New Zealand at Ahmedabad, 29 October - 2 November, 1999

Mohandas Menon

1st day:

• It was the 1465th match in Test history.

• It was the 328th Test match for India and 274th for New Zealand

• It was the 40th match between the two sides (and the 24th on Indian soil).

• It was the 175th match on Indian soil and 5th at this ground. New Zealand are playing its first match at his venue.

• Umpires VK Ramaswami from India and South African Rudi Koertzen were officiating in their 26th and 15th Tests respectively.

• Sachin Tendulkar was appearing in his 12th match against New Zealand, which equals the tally of Bishen Bedi and Azharuddin - the maximum match appearance by an Indian batsman against New Zealand.

• Ajay Jadeja was appearing in a Test match at home after almost four years. He last played against the same team in November 1995 at Cuttack. Since then he has appeared in eight Tests abroad, without playing at home.

• Sadagoppan Ramesh became the first Indian left-hand opener to score two Test hundreds. Ramesh had earlier scored a hundred - a 143 against Sri Lanka at Colombo in February this year. The other left-handed opener was Nari Contractor who had scored one hundred - 108 against Australia at Bombay (Brabourne) in 1959-60.

• Tendulkar (104*) scored his 21st Test hundred in his 71st match to equal the tally of Mohammad Azharuddin. In contemporary cricket, Tendulkar has scored the maximum Test hundreds - one more than the tally of Australian Steve Waugh (20).

• Sunil Gavaskar still holds the record of scoring maximum hundreds - 23 - after his 71st Test match. Tendulkar is just below him with 21, which equals West Indian Gary Sobers' tally after 71 Test matches.

• It was his third hundred against New Zealand, which equals the tally of Vijay Manjrekar and Rahul Dravid - the maximum hundreds by Indians against New Zealand.

• Saurav Ganguly (51*) when on 11 became India's most successful left-hand batsman when he surpassed the previous tally of 2113 runs by Ajit Wadekar.

2nd day:

• With Saurav Ganguly also scoring a hundred (125), it provided the ninth occasion when three Indian batsmen scored hundreds in same innings of a Test match. India had achieved a similar feat against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1955-56, which incidentally was for the first occasion it occurred for India.

• It also provided the first ever instance in Test history when two Indian left-handers scored hundreds in the same innings of a Test match - Ramesh (110) and Ganguly (125).

• The partnership of 281 runs between Tendulkar and Ganguly was tenth highest partnership for the fourth wicket in Test history.

• It was the highest for India for this wicket and its fifth highest for any wicket. The previous highest for this wicket was the 256 between the same pair of Tendulkar and Ganguly against Sri Lanka at Mumbai in 1997-98.

• It was the third partnership of over 250 runs by this pair (they also put on 255 for the third wicket against England at Nottingham in 1996). They now equal the record of the West Indian opening pair of Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes for the maximum partnerships of 250-plus in Tests by a pair.

• The partnership was also the fifth highest for any wicket on Indian soil. The previous highest partnership for the fourth wicket in India was 267 by the West Indian pair of Clyde Walcott and Gerry Gomez at Delhi way back in 1948-49.

• The partnership was also the second highest for the fourth wicket by any pair against New Zealand. The highest still remains as the 350 between Pakistanis Mushtaq Mohammad and Asif Iqbal at Dunedin in 1972-73.

• It was by far India's highest partnership for the fourth wicket against New Zealand. It obliterates the previous best of 171 between Polly Umrigar and Kripal Singh at Hyderabad in 1955-56.

• The previous highest partnership for any wicket at this venue was the 154 for the seventh wicket between Imran Khan and Ijaz Faqih in 1986-87 and the previous best for the fourth wicket at this venue was the 107 between West Indian Larry Gomes and Clive Lloyd in 1983-84.

• Tendulkar during his innings of 217 reached the following milestones:

• on 43, he bettered his highest score at this venue, which was 42 against South Africa in 1996-97.
• on 127, he reached his highest score against New Zealand bettering his previous best of 126* at Mohali in the first Test of this series.
• on 138, he became the highest run-getter for India against New Zealand. He surpassed the run tally of 796 runs (avg 61.23) of M Azharuddin in 12 matches. (Tendulkar at the end of the match has 891 runs @ avg 63.64 also in 12 matches).
• on 149, he surpassed his highest score as captain on Indian soil. The previous highest was the 148 against Sri Lanka at Mumbai, 1996-97.
• on 153, he reached the highest individual score at this venue. Previously Azharuddin had scored 152 against Sri Lanka in 1993-94, which incidentally was also the highest score by a captain at this venue.
• on 170, he reached his highest Test score as captain (previous highest 169 v South Africa at Cape Town, 1996-97)
• on 180, he reached his highest Test score (previous highest 179 v West Indies at Nagpur, 1994-95)
• on 200, he became the 12th Indian to score the 18th Test double hundred.
• on 200, he also became the third Indian captain to score a double hundred in Tests (after Pataudi Jr and Gavaskar)
• on 205, he reached his highest first-class score in his 152nd match (previous best 204* for Mumbai v Australians at Bombay, 1997-98).
• on 206, he reached the highest score by any captain against New Zealand bettering Australian Allan Border's 205 at Adelaide in 1987-88.
• on 206, he reached the highest score by an Indian captain bettering Gavaskar's 205 as captain v West Indies at Bombay in 1978-79. Only West Indian Clive Lloyd has played a bigger innings as a captain on Indian soil - 242* at Bombay in 1974-75.
• He played his longest innings of his first-class and Test career in terms of minutes - 494 minutes. However his 177 against England at Nottingham in 1996 came in 462 minutes but he required more balls - 360 as against 343 needed for this innings.
• He need 71 Tests for his maiden 200. Among Indians only Gundappa Viswanath (80th) and Ravi Shastri (76th) needed more Tests than Tendulkar. Just for the record, Allan Border needed 91 Tests to achieve his in 1987-88.
• He also becomes the second youngest captain in Test history to score a double hundred after Pataudi Jr. Tendulkar was 26 years 190 days, while Pataudi Jr was 23 years 40 days when he scored the unbeaten 203 against England at Delhi in February, 1964.
• At the end of his innings, he became the highest run-getter this calendar year with 844 runs. He surpasses the tally of 789 runs by team-mate Rahul Dravid.
• It was India's 18th double-hundred by 12 batsmen, with Gavaskar doing so on four separate occasions.

• Anil Kumble (27*) when on 9 reached his 1000th runs of his Test career. He was playing in his 56th Test match and 71st innings. He took maximum matches and innings for any Indian in achieving this landmark. Madan Lal and Kiran More had taken 37 matches, while Madan Lal achieved his target in 59 innings. Kumble also becomes the 43rd Indian and the 350th batsman in Test history to do so.

• Kumble also became the fourth Indian, after Vinoo Mankad (2109 runs & 162 wickets), Kapil Dev (5248 & 434) and Ravi Shastri (3830 & 151) and the 35th all-rounder to achieve the double of 1000-plus runs and 100-plus wickets in Test history.

• He also becomes the second Indian (after Kapil) and ninth all-rounder in Tests to do the exclusive double of 1000-plus runs and 250-plus wickets.

• Daniel Vettori became the 2nd New Zealander after Stephen Boock (1-229 against Pakistan at Auckland in 1988-89) and 16th bowler in Tests to conceded 200 runs in a Test innings on 17 occasions (with India's Vinoo Mankad being the only to do it twice). Vinoo Mankad (202 runs against West Indies at Bombay in 1948-49) and Pakistani Haseeb Ahsan (202 runs at Madras in 1960-61) are the only other bowlers to do so on Indian soil.

• India's total of 583-7 dec was its seventh highest score in Test cricket. However it was India's highest ever score against New Zealand bettering the previous highest of 537-7 dec at Madras (Nehru Stadium) in 1955-56.

• Although the above total was the sixth highest by any team against New Zealand, it was the only second highest against New Zealand away from home. Australia had scored 607-6 decl at Brisbane in 1993-94.

• The total was also the highest score at this venue. It betters the previous best of 395 by Pakistan in 1986-87.

3rd day:

• Kumble's third wicket of the innings of Gary Stead was his 46th this calendar year. This makes him the bowler with maximum wickets in 1999. He surpasses the tally of 45 wickets by Australian Glenn McGrath.

• The 70 run partnership between Stephen Fleming and Nathan Astle was the best at this venue for the 5th wicket. It obliterates the previous best of 50 runs between Pakistani Salim Malik and Manzoor Elahi in 1986-87.

• Anil Kumble claimed his 15th five-or-more wicket haul when he captured 5 Kiwi wickets for 82 runs. He becomes the third Indian after Kapil (23) and Chandrasekhar (16) and the 26th bowler in Test history to claim five-or-more wickets in an innings on 15 or more occasions.

4th day:

• Saurav Ganguly, who scored 125 in the first innings scored his second 50-plus score of the match when he made 53. He thus becomes the fifth Indian after Ajit Wadekar, Gundappa Viswanath (twice), Ajay Jadeja and Rahul Dravid to so against New Zealand in Tests.

• Tendulkar became the first Indian captain not to enforce a follow-on despite having a lead of 275 runs. He also became the third captain during this decade not to enforce a follow-on, after Australian Mark Taylor (against England at Brisbane in 1994-95) and South African Hansie Cronje (against Pakistan at Johannesburg also in 1994-95).

• Tendulkar for the first time in his Test career opened the Indian innings, although he has opened on 135 occasions in LOIs. In fact Tendulkar has also not yet appeared at number three position in Tests for India.

5th day:

• The partnership of 131 runs between Gary Stead and Matt Horne was New Zealand's highest for the first wicket in India. It betters the previous best of 106 between Graham Dowling and Bruce Murray at Hyderabad in 1969-70.?

• The above partnership was also best for the first wicket at this venue. The 127 run partnership between Sunil Gavaskar and Aunshuman Gaekwad against West Indies in 1983-84 was the previous best.

• The unbeaten partnership of 121 between Stephen Fleming and Craig Spearman was the best at this venue for the third wicket bettering the previous best of 111 between Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar against Pakistan in 1986-87.

• Fleming during his unbeaten innings of 64 crossed the aggregate of 500 runs against India. He becomes the eighth Kiwi batsman to do so against India. Fleming at the end of the match has 503 runs (avg. 38.69) in 9 matches.

• Tendulkar became the third captain in the last 30 years to draw a Test match despite not enforcing the follow-on. The others are: England Ray Illingworth against Australia at Adelaide in 1970-71 and Gary Sobers against New Zealand at Port of Spain in 1971-72.

• India by winning the Test series continued its unbeaten run at home. Since its one-nil loss to Pakistan in 1986-87, India has not lost a Test series at home.

Postscript:

• Out of the 18 double-hundreds scored by 12 Indians, only four resulted in a victory - Vinoo Mankad's 223 and 231 and Vinod Kambli's 224 and 227. Rest of the 14 double-hundreds by 10 batsmen have resulted in drawn matches.