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Statistical Highlights 2nd Test: Australia v India at Melbourne, 26-30 December, 1999

Mohandas Menon

Statistical Highlights

• This match was the 1479th in Test history.

• This match was Australia's 602nd and India's 330th in Tests.

• This match was the 56th meeting between the two sides.

• This match was the 92nd to be played at this venue. India was playing its 8th match at this venue.

• Englishman David Shepherd was officiating in his 49th Test match. This takes him past the tally of former English umpire Frank Chester. Now only former colleague Harold Bird (66) has umpired in more matches in Test history.

• Brett Lee became the 383rd player to appear in Tests for Australia while Hrishikesh Kanitkar became the 224th player to make debut for India.

• Hrishikesh Kanitkar emulated his father Hemant to became the eighth father-son combination to appear in Tests for India and the 34tth such pair to do in Test history. Incidentally, Hrishikesh was just a week old when his father made his Test debut against the West Indies at Bangalore in November, 1974.

• Just for the record, the last Maharashtra player to appear in Tests was Salil Ankola in 1989-90, although Ankola did not play for Maharashtra after his Test debut. Before Ankola it was Yujurvindra Singh in 1976-77.

• Michael Slater's 91 was his eighth score in the nineties in his 58th match and 102nd innings. Now only fellow Australian Steve Waugh has more such scores - nine. Slater however equals the tally of West Indian Alvin Kallicharran.

• This was Slater's second score in the nineties against India. He equals the tally of Doug Walters who too has two scores in the nineties against India. Now only West Indian Alvin Kallicharran has more nineties - on three occasions - against India.

• The partnership of 144 between Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist just failed to better Australia's best for the sixth wicket against India which still remains as the 151 partnership between Barry Jarman and Tom Veivers at Bombay (Brabourne) in 1964-65. However the pair betters the previous best for this wicket for Australia against India at home which was the 134 runs put on by Ian Chappell and Jarman at this same venue in 1967-68.

• The partnership of 59 runs between Damien Fleming and Brett Lee was Australia best for the 9th wicket against India at home. It surpasses the previous best of 55 runs between Doug Walters and Alan Connolly at Brisbane in 1967-68.

• Shane Warne captured his 350th wicket (of Kanitkar) of his career in his 80th match. He becomes the second Australian after Dennis Lillee (355 in 70 matches) to do so. He also becomes the 10th bowler in Test history to reach this milestone.

• Sachin Tendulkar's 116 was his 22nd Test hundred and his fifth against Australia and his third in Australia. His previous Test hundreds came at Sydney and Perth during the 1991-92 tour.

• He now has maximum Test hundreds among the contemporary batsmen. Australia's Steve Waugh has 21 hundreds - the next best.

• During his above innings Tendulkar became the fourth Indian to reach 1000 runs against Australia. The others being Sunil Gavaskar (1550 runs), GR Viswanath (1538) and Dilip Vengsarkar (1304). At the end of the match, Tendulkar has scored 1053 runs (avg 58.50) in 11 matches.

• The partnership of 77 between Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly was India's best for the fourth wicket against Australia at this venue. It betters the previous best of 74 between Azharuddin and Vengsarkar in 1985-86.

• Brett Lee's 5-47 was the best bowling performance by an Australian bowler making his Test debut against India. The previous best was the 4-46 by Wayne Clark at Brisbane in 1977-78. Lee's figures was also the seventh best bowling performance by an Australian debutant.

• The four catches by Mark Waugh in the first innings equals the maximum catches taken by any fieldsman against India.

• He also becomes the third Australian, after Alan Davidson at Delhi, 1959-60 and Dave Whatmore at Kanpur, 1979-80 and the eighth fielder to do so against India.

• Interestingly, Mark Waugh becomes the only second Australian fieldsman after Michael Slater (against England in 1998-99) to take four catches a this venue. Only two others South African Bruce Mitchell in 1931-32 and Pakistani Hanif Mohammad in 1964-65 have taken four catches in an innings in a Melbourne Test.

• Mark Waugh now has 125 catches which moves him to the third position in the overall tally of catches by a fieldsman in Test history. Now only fellow-Australians Mark Taylor (157 catches in 104 matches) and Allan Border (156 catches in 156 matches) have held more catches than Mark Waugh.

• Adam Gilchrist (78 & 55) became the only third Australian keeper to score fifties in each innings of a Test match. Jack Blackham (57 and 58* v England at Sydney, 1882-83) and Ian Healy (74 & 51* v England at Adelaide, 1994-95) are the only other Australian keepers to do so.

• Gilchrist's 55 in the second innings was the highest ever score made by an Australian keeper batting at the number four position. The previous highest score was the 47 by Sammy Carter against England at Leeds in 1921

• S Ramesh (26*) provided the 13th instance of an Indian batsman to "retire-hurt" for the 15th occasion, with Dilip Vengsarkar doing so on three occasions. Ramesh infact becomes the only second Indian to do so against Australia after Sandeep Patil (65*) at Sydney in 1980-81.

• Tendulkar during his innings of 52 became the highest run-getter this calendar year with 1088 runs (avg 68.00) in 10 matches. He betters the tally of 1051 runs (avg 45.70) in 14 matches by Australian Slater.

• Tendulkar (116 and 52) became the only second Indian captain after Nawab of Pataudi Jr to score 50-plus scores in each innings of a Test as captain against Australia. Pataudi Jr has done it twice with scores of 86 & 53 at Bombay (Brabourne) 1964-65 and 75 & 85 at this same venue in 1967-68.

• Ajit Agarkar became the 25th Indian batsman to bag "a pair" (ducks in each innings) for the 32nd occasion. Agarkar also became the fifth Indian batsman to do so against Australia. The others being Ramakant Desai (in 1959-60), BS Chandrasekhar (twice in 1977-78), Yashpal Sharma (in 1979-80) and Harvinder Singh (in 1997-98).

• Agarkar incidentally became the first Indian batsman to bag a "King's pair" (to be dismiised first ball in each innings). He becomes the eighth batsman in Test history to have the misfortune of doing so.

• He is also perhaps the first batsman in Test history to be dismissed "first-ball" in three successive innings. He was also dismissed first-ball in the second innings of the first Test at Adelaide.

• The victory was Australia's sixth in a row since its win against Zimbabwe at Harare in October this year. Now only the Australian record eight wins in a row from 1920-21 to 1921 by Warwick Armstrong's team exceeds the present Australian team's performance.

• Australia has also won its sixth consecutive match at home since its victory against England at Sydney in January this year. Post-script:

• India has elected to field after winning the toss on 37 occasions and has now lost on 14 occasions and has drawn 22 matches. India's has only won a single Test after putting on the opponents to bat. It was against England at Lord's in 1986. India had won the match by 5 wickets.