Statistical Highlights

India vs England - 5th ODI at Delhi

** Off-spinner Sarandeep Singh became the 143rd player to represent India in LOIs. He becomes the fourth player after Ajay Ratra, Sanjay Bangar and Mohammad Kaif to make debut for India in this series.

** Darren Gough was appearing in his 100th LOI match since his debut in 1994. He becomes the eighth Englishman and the 116th player in LOIs to reach this landmark. The others being Alec Stewart (146), Graham Gooch (125), Allan Lamb (122), Graeme Hick (120), Ian Botham (116), David Gower (114) and Philip DeFreitas (103).

** The wicket of Naseer Hussain was Sachin Tendulkar's 50th on Indian soil. Playing in his 95th match at home he becomes the eighth bowler (all Indians) to do so. Later in the innings he became the first Indian batsman to aggregate 4000 runs at home. He now has 4003 runs in 95 matches.

** Playing in his 70th match, Nick Knight recorded his fourth hundred of his career. He had scored his first and second hundreds in his second and third match, while his third and last one before this one came in his 17th match in March 1998. Since then he has appeared in 52 matches for England without a three-figure mark, although he had scored 17 fifties during this period.

** Playing in his 9th match against England, Sourav Ganguly registered his maiden fifty against England. His previous highest was the 46 at Manchester on 26-5-1996, which incidentally was his first appearance against this team.

** The partnership of 111 runs between Ganguly and Mohammad Kaif was the best for the fourth wicket at this venue bettering the 110 by Indians Ashok Malhotra and Sandeep Patil against Sri Lanka on 15-9-1982.

** Ashley Giles (5-57) in his 11th match became the 9th England bowler to take a five-wicket haul in LOIs for the 12th time. Vic Marks, Gough and Mark Ealham are the only English bowlers to do so on two separate occasions.

** Giles also became the second England bowler to take five wickets against India after pace bowler Paul Jarvis who had claimed 5-35 at Bangalore on 26-2-1993.

** Giles figures are now the best by an English left-arm spinner bettering the 4-22 by Phil Tufnell against New Zealand at Christchurch on 20-2-1997.

** Meanwhile it was the only fourth ever five-wicket haul by an England spinner in 341 matches. Former off-spinner Vic Marks has the distinction of twice claiming - 5 for 37 against Sri Lanka at Taunton 11-6-1983 and 5 for 20 against New Zealand at Wellington on 22-2-1984, while another offie Graeme Hick took 5 for 33 against Zimbabwe at Harare on 20-2-2000. Incidentally Giles' previous-best figures were the 2 for 37 (in 9 overs) against South Africa at The Oval in 21-5-1998.

** It was also the best performance by a left-arm spinner against India surpassing the 4-18 by Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya at the SSC, Colombo on 1-7-1998.

** This was the only second time England was winning by a narrow margin of two runs - the closest it has successfully achieved in terms of runs. England won an identical margin against the West Indies at Sydney on 28-11-1979.