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Statistical highlights: 2nd Test - India v New Zealand at Kanpur, 22-25 October, 1999

Mohandas Menon

1st day:

• It was the 327th Test match for India and 273rd for New Zealand

• It was the 39th match between the two sides (and the 23rd on Indian soil).

• It was the 174th match on Indian soil and 18th at this ground. New Zealand has played only once at this venue - in 1976-77 which was a drawn encounter.

• Umpires AV Jayaprakash from India and Australian Daryl Harper were officiating in their 3rd and 4th Tests respectively.

• Sachin Tendulkar was appearing in his 70th consecutive match (he has not missed a single Test since his debut against Pakistan in 1989). Now only Sunil Gavaskar (106) and Gundappa Viswanth (87) among Indians have appeared in more consecutive matches than Tendulkar.

• Javagal Srinath became the ninth Indian and 60th bowler in Test cricket to take his 150th wicket in his 40th match when he had Matthew Bell leg-before. Srinath now becomes the only second Indian pace bowler after Kapil to do so.

2nd day:

• The eighth wicket partnership of 83 between Cairns and Dion Nash was New Zealand's best for this wicket in India. It surpasses the previous best of 81 between Vic Pollard and Graham Vivian at Calcutta in 1964-65.

• The wicket of Chris Cairns was Anil Kumble's 150th on Indian soil in just 28 matches. He joins Kapil Dev who has 219 wickets in 65 matches in India. Kumble also becomes the 16th bowler in Test history to capture 150 or more wickets at home.

• The hundred run partnership between Gandhi and Ramesh was the second consecutive by this pair in Tests after their 137 run opening stand at Mohali in the second innings. They become the first pair in the history of Indian Test cricket to be involved in 100-plus partnerships for the opening wicket in consecutive innings. The closest any Indian opening pair has achieved this was when Nari Contractor and Pankaj Roy put on 93 and 99 in two innings in the same match at this same venue against West Indies in 1958-59.

• The partnership of 162 runs between Gandhi and Ramesh was the highest by any team for the first wicket at this venue. It obliterates the previous best of 159 runs between Sri Lankans Sidath Wettimuny and Ravi Ratnayeke in 1986-87. It also betters India's previous best at this venue which was the 125 between Sunil Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan against Pakistan in 1979-80.

• The Gandhi-Ramesh partnership has now become the second highest for the first wicket against New Zealand after the all-time world record partnership of 413 between Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy at Madras (Corporation) in 1955-56.

3rd day:

• Daniel Vettori's figures of 6-127 was the second best figures by a New Zealand spinner against India after the 6-51 by John Bracewell at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium in 1988-89.

• The wicket of Matthew Horne was Kumble's 250th of his career. He now becomes the 3rd Indian after Bedi and Kapil to do so. However by doing so in just 55 matches he is the quickest Indian to reach this milestone. Bedi needed 60 Tests in 1978-79, while Kapil required 65 in 1984-85. Kumble also became the 21st bowler in Test history to reach this landmark. He also becomes the fifth spinner to do so after West Indian Lance Gibbs (309 wickets in 70 Tests), Englishman Derek Underwood (297 in 86), Indian Bishen Bedi (266 in 67) and Australian Shane Warne (331 in 75). Kumble now has 250 wickets in 55 matches. Incidentally Kumble equals Warne's record of being the quickest to reach to 250 wickets among the five Test spinners.

4th day:

• Anil Kumble (10-134) became the first Indian bowler to capture ten-or-more wickets in a match on three occasions. Vinoo Mankad, EAS Prasanna, BS Chandrasekhar, Kapil Dev and Maninder Singh are the other Indian bowlers to do it on two occasions.

• Kumble has now taken his tally of wickets for this calendar year to 43 in 7 matches. He is just behind Australian Glenn McGrath who has the maximum wickets in 1999 - 45 in 9 matches.

• Kumble is now the only player among Indians to have played in over 50 Test matches and has been on a winning side on more occasions than the being on a losing side. In 55 Tests, Kumble has been on a winning side on 17 occasions, while his team has lost only on 12 occasions. The rest of the 16 Indian players, who have appeared in more than 50 Test matches., have been on a losing side on more occasions than on a winning side.

• In 17 such matches Kumble now has 126 wickets (avg 17.05) - the maximum by any Indian Test bowler. BS Chandrashekar in 14 matches has 98 wickets (avg 19.28), while Bishen Bedi in 17 matches has 97 wickets (avg 17.66). However they are far behind Kumble in terms of wickets while being on a winning team. Just for the record, West Indian Malcolm Marshall holds the Test record of capturing maximum wickets - 254 while being with the winning West Indian side in 43 matches.

• Chris Cairns surpassed the wicket aggregate of 130 wickets of his father Lance Cairns when he took the wicket of S Ramesh. Chris Cairns was appearing in his 41st match, while father, Lance has appeared in 43 Tests. Chris with this wicket - his 131st - now moves to the third position among New Zealand's top wicket-takers. Richard Hadlee (431 wickets in 86 matches) and Danny Morrison (160 in 48) are the only bowlers to take more Test wickets than Chris Cairns.

• The Cairns father-son combination has now taken 261 Test wickets, and following them are the South Africans Pollocks (Peter and Shaun) who between them have 249 wickets.

• The last occasion India won against New Zealand was at Bangalore in October, 1995. The margin of victory too was by 8 wickets.

• It was India's 61st Test win and New Zealand's 111th loss. It was India 48th victory at home.

• It was New Zealand's tenth loss on Indian soil. Now only England, among visiting teams has lost more matches - 11 - than New Zealand.

• Tendulkar in the last match at Mohali had equalled the Indian record of Nari Contractor (from 1960-61 to 1961-62) for the maximum eight consecutive "draws" as a captain and was just one short of the Test record of New Zealand's John Reid who from 1963-64 to 1964-65 had nine consecutive Test draws as captain. However by winning this Test match he ensured Reid still holds this dubious record.

• It was Tendulkar's fourth win as a captain in 19 matches. Interestingly his last victory as captain also came at this same venue - when India beat South Africa by 280 runs in December, 1996.