• This Test was the 50th between India and Pakistan. India have played more Tests only against England (91), West Indies (78) and Australia (60).
• Fazl-e-Akbar was making a comeback into Pakistan side after a gap of about three years. He had last played for Pakistan against New Zealand in March 2001 at Hamilton.
• For the second time in a Test series against Pakistan, India have won all the tosses. In the 1983-84 series in India, Kapil Dev had won all the three tosses
• India bundled out Pakistan on the very first day of a Test for the fifth time. However it was the first such occasion for India in Pakistan. India’s previous best performance in Pakistan had come in 1954-55 at Karachi when India managed to take nine wickets in Pakistan innings on the first day.
• The ninth wicket partnership of 70 runs between Mohammad Sami and Fazl-e-Akbar equalled existing Pakistani record for this wicket against India. Yousuf Youhana and Shoaib Akhtar were involved in an identical partnership in the first Test of this series at Multan.
• Mohammad Sami (49) and Fazl-e-Akbar (25) made their highest scores in Test cricket during Pakistan’s first innings.
• L Balaji (4-63) achieved his best figures in Test cricket. His previous best was 3 for 81 also against Pakistan in the first innings of second Test at Lahore.
• Parthiv Patel conceded 14 byes during Pakistan’s first innings. It is the worst performance by an Indian keeper on Pakistan soil. Syed Kirmani had conceded 12 byes in the first innings of Lahore Test in 1978-79
• Virender Sehwag was dismissed without scoring for the third time in his career. His earlier two ducks were against England at Nottingham in 2002 and against Australia at Brisbane in 2003-04.
• Parthiv Patel (69) opened the Indian innings for the second time in his career. The only previous such instance for him was against New Zealand at Hamilton in 2002-03.Patel could not open his account on that occasion. It was the third fifty of Patel’s career and also his highest Test score. Interestingly all his three fifties have been scored in the year 2004 only. Patel’s previous highest was 62 recorded on two occasions (once unbeaten) - against Australia at Sydney in January 2004 and also against Pakistan at Lahore in last Test while remaining unbeaten.
• Patel’s innings is now the highest by an Indian wicketkeeper on Pakistan soil beating Syed Kirmani’s 66 at Faisalabad in 1982-83.
• Rahul Dravid (270) scored his fifth double hundred in his 78th Test- his first three figure knock against Pakistan. Dravid’s previous highest against Pakistan was a paltry 53 at Chennai in 1998-99.
• Dravid now holds the record of scoring most double hundreds in a career for India. He was earlier at level with Sunil Gavaskar with four double hundreds. Now only Australia’s Don Bradan (12), England’s Wally Hammond (7), West Indies’ Brian Lara (7) and Pakistan’s Javed Miandad (6) are ahead of him, while Sri Lanka’s Marvan Atapattu has also five double hundreds to his credit.
• This was Dravid’s third double hundred on foreign soil after 217 at the Oval in 2002 (v England) and 233 at Adelaide in 2003-04 (v Australia) – another Indian record. Dravid moved ahead of Sunil Gavaskar, who scored two double tons on foreign soil. The Test record is held by Australia’s Don Bradman and England’s Wally Hammond with both batsmen doing so five times each. Three West Indians – Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards and Brian Lara – have hit three double hundreds on foreign soil.
• Dravid’s innings is the highest by any batsman on this ground eclipsing Salim Malik’s 237 against Australia in 1994-95.
• Dravid’s 740 minutes stay at the crease is the longest by an Indian in a Test innings. The previous record was held by Sunil Gavaskar who batted for 708 minutes for his 172 against England at Bangalore in 1981-82.
• Dravid batted for 647 minutes for his double hundred, which is the third slowest by an Indian. Only Navjot Singh Sidhu (671 minutes v West Indies, Port-of-Spain, 1996-97) and Anshuman Gaekwad (652 minutes v Pakistan,Jullundur, 1983-84) have made slower double hundreds for India.
• During his marathon innings Dravid completed his 4,000 runs in ‘away’ Tests, becoming third Indian and only the 14th batsman in Test cricket history to do so. At the end of this Test, Dravid’s tally reads as 4,193 runs from 45 Tests and 77 innings. Only Sachin Tendulkar (5,205 runs in 67 matches) and Sunil Gavaskar (5,055 runs in 60 matches) have aggregated more runs than Dravid for India in ‘away’ matches.
• By taking 77 innings to complete his 4,000 runs in ‘away’ Tests, Dravid also became the second fastest to perform this feat in terms of innings taken. The record is held by England’s Wally Hammond who needed only 64 innings (and 37 Tests) to complete his 4,000 away runs. The previous Indian record was on the name of Sunil Gavaskar who scored his 4,000th run in his 79th away innings.
• Dravid was involved in three century partnerships during his epic innings – 129 runs for the second wicket (with Parthiv Patel), 131 runs for the fourth wicket (with VVS Laxman) and 131 runs for the fifth wicket (with Sourav Ganguly). He became only the second Indian to be involved in three century partnerships in the same innings. Vinod Kambli (v Zimbabwe, Delhi, 1992-93) was the first and only other Indian to do so.
• Dravid, infact, missed a rare world as he added 98 runs for the sixth wicket with Yuvraj Singh. Had the pair put on another two runs, Dravid would have become only the second batsman in Test cricket history to participate in FOUR century partnerships in the same innings. This distinction is held by Hanif Mohammad,who featured in four century stands in Pakistan’s second innings of Bridgetown Test in 1957-58.
• The four off the last ball of the second day not only brought a fifty for Sourav Ganguly, but also took him past Sachin Tendulkar’s run-aggregate of 2,054 as India’s captain. At the end of this match, Ganguly’s run-aggregate as a skipper stands at 2,081 from 38 Tests. Now only three players – Sunil Gavaskar (3,449), Mohammad Azharuddin (2,856) and Nawab of Pataudi jnr (2,424) are ahead of Ganguly in terms of run-aggregate as India’s captain.
• By an amazing quirk of fate, all the three players to have captained their sides in this series have been run-out once each – Inzamam-ul-Haq in second innings of Multan Test, Rahul Dravid in second innings of Lahore Test….and Ganguly in this Test !
• India (600) registered their second total of 600 or more in this series. India had made 675 for five declared in the first Test at Multan India have now made a total of 600 or more on foreign soil on six occasions. Interestingly three of such instances have come only in last four Tests.
• India’s total is also the highest on this ground beating Pakistan’s 537 against Australia in 1994-95.
• The wicket of Yousuf Youhana was 22nd ‘caught and bowled’ dismissal for Anil Kumble. Kumble has now dismissed most batsmen in this fashion moving ahead of Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan’s tally of 21 dismissals.
• The victory margin of an innings and 131 runs is India’s biggest ever against Pakistan. India had beaten Pakistan by an innings and 70 runs in the inaugural match between the two countries at Delhi in 1952-53.
• The victory margin is also the biggest for India in an ‘away’ Test. The previous biggest was also achieved in this series only. At Multan last month, India had won by an innings and 52 runs.
• By winning this Test, India also took the series 2-1. It is India’s first Test series over Pakistan since 1979-80 and their FIRST ever on Pakistani soil.
• The series win is India’s seventh in an ‘away’ series. England is the only country where India have recorded two series wins. The details of India’s ‘away’ series wins :

  Season    Opponent      Tests  Margin   Captain
  1967-68   New Zealand     4     3-1     Nawab of Pataudi,jr.
  1970-71   West Indies     5     1-0     Ajit Wadekar
  1971      England         3     1-0     Ajit Wadekar
  1986      England         3     2-0     Kapil Dev
  1993-94   Sri Lanka       3     1-0     Mohammad Azharuddin
  2000-01   Bangladesh      1     1-0     Sourav Ganguly
  2003-04   Pakistan        3     2-1     Rahul Dravid (2) / Sourav Ganguly (1)
  

• India provided the fifth instance of winning two Tests in a series by an innings margin. They have also done so against New Zealand (1955-56), against Sri Lanka (1986-87), against England (1992-93) and against Sri Lanka (1993-94), however this is the first such instance on foreign soil.
• Pakistan failed to overhaul Dravid’s score in either innings (270 as against 224 & 245). This provided only the second occasion when an Indian batsman made more runs than each of opponents’ two completed innings. At Madras in 1955-56 New Zealand could muster only 209 and 219 against Vinoo Mankad’s 231.
• Shoaib Akhtar scored 28 runs off just 14 balls. He scored all his runs in boundaries with 4 fours and two sixes. Akhtar just missed the Test record of highest score consisting of only boundary shots. Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya (v India,Colombo SSC,1997) and England’s Alex Tudor (v New Zealand, Birmingham, 1999) had made all their 32 runs in boundaries.
• Sourav Ganguly became the most successful captain in the history of Indian Test cricket following the victory in the Rawalpindi Test. It was Ganguly's 15th Test win as India’s captain, one more than Mohammad Azharuddin's tally of 14. The remarkable aspect about Ganguly's record is that he needed nine Tests less than Azharuddin to overhaul the record.Interestingly, Azharuddin won only one Test outside India, while Ganguly has won as many as seven, easily the maximum by an India captain. No other Indian captain has won more than three Tests on foreign soil.
• At the end of the series, Dravid’s career tally reads as 6,855 runs in 78 Tests at an average of 58.09. Dravid has now achieved the highest batting average in this Indian squad leaving Sachin Tendulkar behind at 57.39. In fact Dravid’s career average is second highest among all the contemporary batsmen (having scored atleast 1,000 runs in a career) after South Africa’s Graeme Smith’s 58.68.
• Dravid has now aggregated 4,193 runs in 45 ‘away’ Tests keeping an average of 63.53. His average is easily the highest among all the contemporary batsmen and fourth highest among alltime greats (with a minimum qualification of 1,000 runs) after Australia’s Don Bradman (102.85), England’s Ken Barrington (69.18) and Wally Hammond (66.33).
• Shoaib Akhtar has now played in 24 consecutive result producing matches ending on victorious side 14 times and on losing side 10 times. The last drawn Test in which Akhtar had made an appearance was way back in December 1998 between Pakistan and Zimbabwe at Lahore. Akhtar is now only two short of equalling Australia’s Jason Gillespie’s world record of playing in most consecutive decided Tests. Gillespie had played in 26 such Tests for Australia from his debut in November 1996 to August 2001. Australia won 17 Tests and lost nine Tests during this period.

(Article: Copyright © 2004 Rajneesh Gupta)