• Ramesh Powar was making debut for India. He became 155th player to appear for India in a one-day international.
• Shoaib Akhtar was playing his 100th match. He became 22nd player from Pakistan and 131st player overall to do so.
• Shahid Afridi was making a comeback into Pakistan side after about a year. His last appearance was also against India in the World Cup at Centurion on 01-03-2003. Afridi thus missed 34 matches in between his two consecutive appearances.
• Afridi made 64 runs during his innings of 80 in boundaries with ten fours and four sixes – a boundary percentage of 80. This is the joint sixth highest percentage of boundary shots by a batsman in an innings of atleast fifty runs against India. The record is on the name of New Zealand’s Craig Spearman who scored his 88.24 % runs in boundaries (60 out of 68) at Rajkot on 05-11-1999. Afridi has now equalled the Pakistani record against India. Ijaz Ahmed had also made 80% of his runs in boundaries (48 out of 60) at Toronro on 21-09-1997.
• The 138-run partnership between Afridi and Yasir Hameed is Pakistan’s best for the first wicket against Indian at home soil. This surpasses the previous record stand of 80 between Ijaz Ahmed and Shahid Afridi at Lahore on 02-10-1997.
• The above partnership is also Pakistan’s second best opening wicket partnership in all matches – home or away – after the 144-run partnership between Aamir Sohail and Saeed Anwar at Singapore on 05-04-1996.
• Moin Khan recorded his fourth duck against India. He has now equalled Shahid Afridi’s Pakistani record of aggregating most ducks in a career against India. Interestingly three out of Moin’s four ducks have been golden ducks.
• Abdul Razzaq completed his 3,000 runs in ODIs when his score reached 14.He was playing his 156th match and 133rd innings. Razzaq became 13th Pakistani and 80th batsman overall to do so.
• With already 179 wickets on his name Razzaq also completed the coveted allround double of 3,000 runs and 100 wickets. He became fourth Pakistani after Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Shahid Afridi and only the 18th player in game’s history to do so.
• Pakistan’s total (329-6) is the highest ever made by any side on this ground beating South Africa’s 328 for 3 against Netherlands on 05-03-1996. Incidentally the previous highest by Pakistan on this ground was 302 for six against Zimbabwe at Rawalpindi on 24-11-1998.
• Pakistan have now notched up 300-plus totals in three successive matches. They have made 303 against New Zealand at Wellington on 17-01-2004 and followed it up with 344 for eight at Karachi on 13-03-2004 and 329 for six in this game. With this Pakistan equalled their own world record of 300-plus totals in most consecutive matches. They have performed similar feat against Zimbabwe in November 2002.
• Zaheer Khan gave away 72 runs in his seven overs - his worst bowling performance ever in terms of runs conceded. He had conceded 71 runs in ten overs (while taking one wicket) against Australia at Visakhapatnam on 03-04-2001.
• Sachin Tendulkar (141) completed his 13,000 runs in ODIs when his score reached 51. He was playing his 330th match and 321st innings. He became first batsman ever in the history of ODIs to achieve this landmark.
• Tendulkar became first Indian to notch up a century on Pakistan soil. The previous record of highest score for India in Pakistan was held by teammate Rahul Dravid with his 99 in the first match of this series at Karachi on 13-03-2004.
• Tendulkar also equalled Sourav Ganguly’s record of playing highest individual innings for India against Pakistan. Ganguly had made the identical score at Adelaide on 25-01-2000.
• The century was Tendulkar’s third against Pakistan. He has now scored most centuries against Pakistan for India moving ahead of Mohammad Azharuddin, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Sourav Ganguly who each has scored two centuries against Pakistan.
• This was the eighth occasion when India suffered defeat despite a century from Tendulkar’s bat. In fact Tendulkar’s name appears thrice in the list of top 10 innings for a losing cause. Here-under are the details :

  Batsman       Score   BF   For   Vs    Venue             Date
  RA Smith       167*  163   Eng   Aus   Birmingham        21 May 1993
  CH Gayle       152*  153   WI    SA    Johannesburg      04 Feb 2004
  SR Tendulkar   146   153   Ind   Zim   Jodhpur           08 Dec 2000
  A Flower       145   164   Zim   Ind   Colombo (RPS)     14 Sep 2002
  HH Gibbs       143   141   SA    NZ    Johannesburg      16 Feb 2003
  SR Tendulkar   143   131   Ind   Aus   Sharjah           22 Apr 1998
  A Flower       142*  128   Zim   Eng   Harare            07 Oct 2001
  DL Houghton    142   137   Zim   NZ    Hyderabad (Ind)   10 Oct 1987
  SB Styris      141   125   NZ    SL    Bloemfontein      10 Feb 2003
  CH Gayle       140   127   WI    Ind   Ahmedabad (GS)    15 Nov 2002
  Saeed Anwar    140   132   Pak   Ind   Dhaka             18 Jan 1998
  

• Zaheer Khan recorded his third consecutive duck. He became third Indian after Sachin Tendulkar (in 1994) and Anil Kumble (in 1996) to achieve this dubious distinction.
• The ninth wicket partnership of 30 runs between Ramesh Powar and L Balaji is India’s best for this wicket against Pakistan in Pakistan. The pair obliterated the previous record stand of 13 between Chetan Sharma and Balwinder Singh Sandhu at Quetta on 12-10-1984.
• India’s total of 317 is their highest ever against Pakistan batting second. The previous highest was 316 for seven at Dhaka on 18-01-1998.
• The 22 leg-byes in Indian innings are the most conceded by any side against India. The previous record was of 17 leg-byes which were conceded by West Indies at Sharjah on 22-11-1985.
• The victory margin of 12 runs is the third narrowest for Pakistan in matches against India after 4-run win at Sharjah on 23-10-1991 and 7-run win at Gujranwala on 18-12-1989.
• India and Pakistan have now conceded 300-plus runs in three consecutive matches. The sequence for India started with the second final of VB Series at Sydney when Australia made a mammoth 359 for two in stipulated 50 overs, which was followed by Pakistan’ 344 for 8 at Karachi on 13-03-2004 and 329 for 6 in this game. The sequence for Pakistan started with the game against New Zealand at Wellington on 17-01-2004 when New Zealand scored 307 for 8 in stipulated 50 overs. India then scored 349 for seven in 50 overs at Karachi and 317 in this game.
• India and Pakistan thus joined Zimbabwe and Namibia, the other two sides, against which 300-plus runs have been scored in three consecutive matches. Zimbabwe were the first side to suffer this fate. They did so in the series against Pakistan at home soil in 2002-03, while Namibia were at the receiving end during the 2002-03 World Cup.But India have an edge over the others as they are the ONLY team to have conceded 325-plus runs in three matches at a trot.
• Sachin was winning his 50th Man of the Match award - the most by any player in ODIs. This was also his sixth Man of the Match award against Pakistan.

(Article: Copyright © 2004 Rajneesh Gupta)