Statistical Highlights of the first LOI match at Bangalore

Mohandas Menon

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was making a comeback to the Indian one-day side after a gap of two and half years, while missing 84 matches in between. He last appeared at Harare against Zimbabwe on September 30, 1998. Among Indians only the following players have made a comeback into the side after missing more matches than Harbhajan - Ashish Kapoor (a record 157 matches in December 2000), Robin Singh sr. (146 matches in November 1996) and Sourav Ganguly (91 matches in May 1996).

VVS Laxman, who was also making a comeback to the one-day side after a gap of 14 months, registered his highest ever LOI score (45) of his career in his 14th match. His previous highest was the unbeaten 23 also against Australia at Sharjah on April 22, 1998.

The partnership of 100 runs between Rahul Dravid and Virender Shewag was the best for the fifth wicket at this venue erasing the previous best of 79 between Indians Sachin Tendulkar and Ajay Jadeja also against Australia on October 21, 1996.

Vijay Dahiya (51) while recording his maiden fifty of his career in 15 matches (his previous highest was 40 against Sri Lanka at Sharjah on October 27, 2000) became the first Indian wicket-keeper to score a fifty against Australia. He eclipsed the previous highest score of 48 not out by Syed Kirmani at Melbourne on December 6, 1980, which incidentally was the first ever LOI encounter between the two sides.

India's total of 315-10 was the joint second highest score ever made against the Australians in LOIs. The highest still remains as the 320-8 (but in 55 overs) by England at Birmingham on August 22, 1980. Pakistan's 315-8 at Lahore on November 11, 1998 was the highest score in a 50-over match, which India has now equalled.

This was India's second highest total at home after its record 376-2 against New Zealand at Hyderabad on November 8, 1999.

This was also the first occasion a team has exceeded the 300-run mark at this venue. The previous highest was the 291-8 by Pakistan against India on April 4, 1999, while India's highest at this ground was the 287-8 against Pakistan in the famous quarter-final match in the World Cup on March 9, 1996.

India's total of 315 runs incidentally equals the second highest team score in which all ten batsmen have been dismissed. Sri Lanka's 329-10 against the West Indies at Sharjah on October 16, 1995 still remains the highest. Pakistan too was dismissed for 315 by Sri Lanka at Singapore on April 2, 1996. However since both Sri Lanka's and Pakistan's efforts have come while batting second, India's 315-10 now becomes the highest ever (all dismissal) team total in LOI history for a side batting first. Sri Lanka's 309-10 in 49.4 overs, while batting first against Pakistan at Calcutta on May 27, 1997 was the previous highest.

Matthew Hayden making a comeback to the Australian side after a gap of eleven months, recorded his highest score (99) of his LOI career, while playing in his 20th match. His previous highest score was the 67 he made against New Zealand at Sharjah on April 16, 1994 in the Australasia Cup.

Hayden also became the 'unlucky' 13th batsman in LOI history to miss the hundred by just one run. He joins Dean Jones (99 not out against Sri Lanka at Adelaide on January 28, 1985) as the only second Australian to do so. For the record, the only two other batsman to miss their respective hundreds by one run against India are New Zealand's Bruce Edgar (who remained unbeaten) at Auckland on February 14, 1981 and England's Allan Lamb at the Oval on June 4, 1982.

The partnership of 110 between Hayden and Michael Beven was the best for the third wicket at this venue expunging the previous best of 94 between Pakistanis Shahid Afridi and Inzamam-ul Haq against India on April 4, 1999.

The catch of Ian Harvey was Sourav Ganguly's 50th of his career in 159 matches. He becomes the seventh Indian and the 43rd fieldsman in LOI history to reach this landmark.

Srinath, at the end of the match has 255 wickets in 188 matches, which took him past the tally of Kapil Dev (253 wickets in 225 matches). Now only Anil Kumble has more wickets for India - 274 in 208 matches. In the all time list of most wicket aggregates - Pakistani pace bowlers Wasim Akram (440 wickets in 316 matches) and Waqar Younis (323 in 204) and fellow Indian Kumble has more than Srinath in LOIs.

The match aggregate of 570 runs was the maximum ever recorded in any LOI match, in which 20 wickets have fallen. The previous maximum runs scored were 533 - between Sri Lanka (309) and Pakistan (224) in the final encounter of the Independence Cup match at Calcutta on May 27, 1997.

This was Australia's first defeat after winning ten matches in a row since January 11, 2001. Interestingly, the last team to defeat Australia was the Indians during the quarter-final match of the ICC knockout tournament at Nairobi on October 7, 2000. India won by 20 runs.

The 60 run victory was India's biggest win margin against Australia at home. India had won by 56 runs at New Delhi on October 22, 1987 during the Reliance World Cup.

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