A new low for Ganguly

The unexpected loss in the second ODI against Bangladesh put an entirely unwanted record against Sourav Ganguly's name.Ganguly now holds the dubious distinction of suffer defeat against 10 countries in ODIs,which also equals the existing world record. Ganguly has captained India against 13 countries and Namibia, Netherlands and UAE are the only countries to whom he has not lost a match.

Ganguly equalled Zimbabwe's Heath Streak's world record of losing to most countries as a captain.He went past Mohammad Azharuddin's Indian record. Azharuddin had lost to 9 countries (with the exception of Bangladesh and UAE) during his tenure. Fellow teammate Sachin Tendulkar faced defeat against 8 different countries.

The following table gives country-wise break-up of Ganguly's performance as a captain in shorter version of the game:

Opponent     P  W   L   NR  Won % Lost %  NR %

Australia   16	4  11	1  25.00  68.75	 6.25

Bangladesh   5	4   1	-  80.00  20.00	  -

England	    14	7   6	1  50.00  42.86	 7.14

Kenya	     7	6   1	-  85.71  14.29	  -

Namibia	     1	1   -	- 100.00   -	  -

Netherlands  1	1   -	- 100.00   -	  -

New Zealand 13	5   8	-  38.46  61.54	  -

Pakistan    13	5   8	-  38.46  61.54	  -

S.Africa    16	7   8	1  43.75  50.00	 6.25

Sri Lanka   16	6   8	2  37.50  50.00	12.50

UAE	     1	1   -	- 100.00   -	  -

West Indies 15	8   7	-  53.33  46.67	  -

Zimbabwe    18 15   3	-  83.33  16.67	  -

TOTAL	   136 70  61	5  51.47  44.85	 3.68

The following table details the first loss suffered by Ganguly
against each country:

Opp	Venue	     Date	Result	     Match 

WI	Singapore 05-09-1999	WI 42 runs   1st

SA	Faridabad 15-03-2000	SA 2 wkts    3rd

Pak	Sharjah	  26-03-2000	Pak 98 runs  2nd

SL	Dhaka	  01-06-2000	SL 71 runs   1st

NZ	Nairobi   15-10-2000	NZ 4 wkts    1st

Zim	Jodhpur	  08-12-2000	Zim 1 wkts   5th

Aus	Pune	  28-03-2001	Aus 8 wkts   3rd

Ken     P.Eliza.  17-10-2001	Ken 70 runs  3rd

Eng	Cuttack	  22-01-2002	Eng 16 runs  2nd

BD	Dhaka	  26-12-2004	BD 15 runs   5th



Note: The last column pertains to Ganguly's match

as captain against that particular country

Agarkar’s world record

The wicket of opener Nafis Iqbal in first of back-to-back ODIs at Dhaka gave Ajit Agarkar a world record. This was Agarkar’s 200th wicket in shorter version of the game. Having already aggregated 1,049 runs before this match, Agarkar joined the exclusive band of cricketers with the all-round double of 1,000 runs and 200 wickets.

Agarkar was playing his 133rd match and he is now the quickest in terms of least number of matches taken to complete this all-round double.The previous record was held by South African Shaun Pollock,who accomplished this feat in his 138th match.

Kapil Dev, the only other Indian in this list, was the first player to do so. Pakistan’s Wasim Akram remains the youngest at 26 years 257 days followed by Agarkar at 27 years 22 days.

Agarkar also became the quickest among Indians to take 200 wickets.Agarkar accomplished the feat in only 133 matches – 14 matches lesser than Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath, who previously held the record for India. In all ODIs Agarkar is joint fifth fastest with Australia’s Glenn McGrath and after Pakistan’s Saqlain Mushtaq (104), South Africa’s Allan Donald (117),Pakistan’s Waqar Younis (118) and Australia’s Shane Warne (125).

Statistical Highlights, Bangladesh v India, Chittagong ODI

· MS Dhoni and Joginder Sharma became 157th and 158th player to represent India in ODIs.

· S Sriram was making a comeback into Indian side after four years. He had last played for India against Zimbabwe at Rajkot on 14-12-2000.Sriram thus missed 116 matches in between his two appearances. He is the sixth Indian player to miss 100 (or more) matches in between two appearances after Sairaj Bahutule (196),Ashish Kapoor (157),Robin Singh (146),Harvinder Singh (110) and Amit Bhandari (108).

· Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar were opening the innings together for India after a gap of 26 matches. In fact it was only the second such occasion in the year 2004.

· Mohammad Kaif's innings of 80 is the highest for India at Chittagong eclipsing Navjot Singh Sidhu's unbeaten 50 against Bangladesh on 27-10-1988.

· The fourth wicket partnership of 128 runs between Dravid and Kaif is India’s best for this wicket against Bangladesh. The pair obliterated the previous record stand of 27 between Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja at Dhaka on 10-01-1998.

· The above partnership was the second highest for any wicket for India against Bangladesh after 154 run-partnership for the second wicket between Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly at Colombo SSC on 21-07-2004.

· Dravid and Kaif have now been involved in a century partnership on five occasions– twice v Pakistan and once each v New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Interestingly on all of the five occasions India have won the match.

· Dhoni became 17th Indian batsman to score a duck in his debut innings. However he is only the fifth after Roger Binny, Yograj Singh,Lalchand Rajput and Avishkar Salvi to last only one ball while achieving this dubious distinction.

· India (245-8) for the first time batted through out the 50 overs against Bangladesh. In their last 11 encounters, India batted second 10 times successfully chasing the victory target. On one occasion when they batted first, India were dismissed for 276 in 49.3 overs.

· Habibul Bashar (65, on 42) completed his 1,000 runs in ODIs. He became second batsman from Bangladesh to aggregate 1000 or more runs after Khaled Mashud.

· Khaled Mashud’s 39-ball fifty is the third fastest fifty by a Bangladesh batsman. Only Mohammad Ashraful Haq (31 balls- v Zimbabwe at Harare on 10-03-2004) and Khaled Mahmud (38 balls – v Zimbabwe at Dhaka on 25-11-2001) have scored faster fifties for Bangladesh.

· Mashud provided the second instance of a Bangladesh wicket-keeper performing the all-round feat of scoring a fifty and effecting three dismissals in the same match. He had made an unbeaten 54 besides holding three catches against Pakistan at Chittagong on 22-01-2002.

· The 40-run partnership between Khaled Mashud and Khaled Mahmud is Bangladesh's best for the eighth wicket against India obliterating the 24-run partnership between Manjural Islam Rana and Khaled Mahmud at Colombo SSC on 21-07-2004.

· Kaif won his fourth Man of the match award.
==========================================

India - Bangladesh in ODIs

India have maintained a clean record against Bangladesh in 11 ODI matches winning all of them. 10 of the wins have come when India batted second and one when India batted first.

Summary of Results: 

Date	    Venue	Margin	        Scores	

27-10-1988 Chittagong	9 wkts	Ban 99-8  Ind 100-1

25-12-1990 Chandigarh	9 wkts	Ban 170-6 Ind 171-1

04-05-1995 Sharjah	9 wkts	Ban 163	  Ind 164-1

24-07-1997 Colombo (SSC)9 wkts	Ban 130-8 Ind 132-1

10-01-1998 Dhaka	4 wkts	Ban 190	  Ind 191-6

14-05-1998 Mohali	5 wkts	Ban 184-9 Ind 185-5

25-05-1998 Mumbai (WS)	5 wkts	Ban 115	  Ind 116-5

30-05-2000 Dhaka	8 wkts	Ban 249-6 Ind 252-2

11-04-2003 Dhaka	200 runsInd 276	  Ban  76

16-04-2003 Dhaka	4 wkts	Ban 207	  Ind 208-6

21-07-2004 Colombo (SSC)8 wkts	Ban 177	  Ind 178-2

Highest Innings Total:
India: 276 (49.3 overs) at Dhaka on 11-04-2003
Bangladesh: 249-6 (50 overs) at Dhaka on 30-05-2000

Lowest Innings Total:
India: 276 (49.3 overs) at Dhaka on 11-04-2003 (this was the only occasion when India were bowled out in a match v Bangladesh. In all other matches India romped home successfully chasing the victory target)
Bangladesh : 76 (27.3 overs) at Dhaka on 11-04-2003

Highest individual innings:
India:

Runs Balls  Batsman	  Venue	         Date

135* 124  SC Ganguly	Dhaka	      30 May 2000

104* 109  NS Sidhu	Chandigarh    25 Dec 1990

102*  85  Yuvraj Singh	Dhaka	      11 Apr 2003

 84  120  M Azharuddin	Dhaka	      10 Jan 1998

 82* 126  SR Tendulkar	Colombo (SSC) 21 Jul 2004



Bangladesh: 

Runs Balls  Batsman	Venue	          Date

70   128  Aminul Islam	Mohali	      14 May 1998

69*   96  Aminul Islam	Dhaka	      10 Jan 1998

64    52  Akram Khan	Dhaka	      30 May 2000

57   122  Faruk Ahmed	Chandigarh    25 Dec 1990

57    96  Habibul BasharDhaka	      30 May 2000

Most runs in a career:
India : 316 (ave.79.00) in 6 matches by SC Ganguly
Bangladesh : 277 (ave.46.17) in 8 matches by Aminul Islam

Most wickets in a match:
India:

W-Runs	Bowler	         Venue	         Date

5-23	J Srinath	Dhaka	      10 Jan 1998

4-19	Zaheer Khan	Dhaka	      11 Apr 2003

3-13	RR Singh	Colombo (SSC) 24 Jul 1997

3-17	A Kumble	Mumbai (WS)   25 May 1998

3-18	AB Agarkar	Dhaka	      11 Apr 2003



Bangladesh: 

W-Runs	Bowler	        Venue	        Date

3-65	Tapash Baisya	Dhaka	      11 Apr 2003

2-12	Khaled Mahmud	Mumbai (WS)   25 May 1998

2-21	Mohd Rafique	Mumbai (WS)   25 May 1998

Most wickets in a career:
India : 10 (ave 13.20) in 4 matches by AB Agarkar
Bangladesh : 8 (ave. 35.63) in 8 matches by Mohammad Rafique

Most dismissals in a match:
India:

Dis	     Keeper 	Venue	       Date

3 (all ct)  SS Karim	Mumbai (WS)  25 May 1998

3 (all ct)  PA Patel	Dhaka	     11 Apr 2003



Bangladesh: 

Dis	      Keeper	Venue	       Date

3 (all ct) Khaled Masud	Mohali	     14 May 1998

Most catches in a match:
India:

Ct	Fielder	  Venue	           Date

2  SR Tendulkar	Dhaka	        10 Jan 1998

2  DS Mohanty	Mohali	        14 May 1998

2  VVS Laxman	Mumbai (WS)	25 May 1998



Bangladesh: 

Ct	Fielder	   Venue	   Date

2  Alok Kapali	Colombo (SSC)	21 Jul 2004

Highest partnership for each wicket:
India:

Wkt Runs      Batsmen		  Venue	      Date

1st 121	WV Raman & NS Sidhu	C'garh  25 Dec 1990

2nd 154	SR T'kar & SC Ganguly   Colombo 21 Jul 2004

3rd 121	M Azharuddin & SR T'kar Dhaka   10 Jan 1998

4th  27	M Azharuddin & AD Jadeja Dhaka  10 Jan 1998

5th  78	AD Jadeja & RR Singh	Mohali  14 May 1998

6th  26	AV Kale & D Mongia	Dhaka   16 Apr 2003

7th  92	Yuvraj  & AB Agarkar    Dhaka   11 Apr 2003

8th   7	Yuvraj  & Harbhajan     Dhaka   11 Apr 2003

9th   0	Yuvraj  & Zaheer Khan   Dhaka   11 Apr 2003

10th  5	Yuvraj  & AM Salvi	Dhaka   11 Apr 2003



Bangladesh: 

Wkt  Runs	Batsmen		  Venue	     Date

1st  30	AA Khan & J Omer        Sharjah 05 Apr 1995

2nd  34	M Hossain & H Bashar    Dhaka   16 Apr 2003

3rd 108	F Ahmed & AA Khan	C'garh  25 Dec 1990

4th  42	A Islam & M Abedin	Sharjah 05 Apr 1995

5th 109	A Islam & K Mahmud	Dhaka   10 Jan 1998

6th  31	A Islam & K Mahmud	Mohali  14 May 1998

7th  24	A Khan & K Mahmud	Dhaka   16 Apr 2003

8th  24	M Islam Rana & K Mahmud	Colombo 21 Jul 2004

9th  44	K Masud & H Hossain     Mumbai  25 May 1998

10th 25	S Islam & A Rahman	Sharjah 05 Apr 1995

     25	T Baisya & T Aziz	Dhaka   16 Apr 2003

Statistical Highlights: Chittagong Test, Ind v BD

Day 1:
Nazmul Hossain, became 40th player from Bangladesh to play Test cricket.At 17 years 73 days he is the fourth youngest to appear in a Test for Bangladesh after Mohammed Sharif,Talha Jubair and Mohammad Ashraful.

Nazmul was,in fact, making his first-class debut also. He thus became only the second Bangladeshi to make his first-class and Test debut in the same match after Mashrafe Mortaza.

Nazmul is the third player to make his f-c and Test debut in the same match against India. The other two are New Zealander Graham Vivian (at Calcutta in 1964-65) and Zimbabwean Ujesh Ranchod (at Delhi in 1992-93).

Rahul Dravid (145*) emulated Australia’s Steve Waugh, South Africa’s Gary Kirsten and fellow teammate Sachin Tendulkar in scoring at least a century against all other 9 Test playing countries.

Dravid, however, became the first batsman in Test annals to have recorded hundreds in all the ten Test-playing countries. This is how Dravid has performed in different countries:

100s	Location       Mts Inns	 Runs	 Hs  Ave

6	in India	39   67	 3010	222   50.17

3	in England	 6    9	  789	217   87.67

2	in New Zealand	 4    8	  452	190   64.57

1	in West Indies	10   15	  764	144*  63.67

1	in Australia	 7   14	  712	233   64.73

1	in Sri Lanka	 6   10	  419	107   46.56

1	in South Africa	 5   10	  379	148   42.11

1	in Pakistan	 3    4	  309	270   77.25

1	in Zimbabwe	 3    5	  300	118   75.00

1	in Bangladesh	 3    4	  214	145* 107.00

18	TOTAL	        86  146	 7348	270   57.85

Another remarkable feature of Dravid’s career is his awesome ‘away’ performance. He is among the very few batsmen who have better batting average in away Tests – in fact a remarkable 14 points more than his average in home Tests! Dravid has scored his runs on foreign soil at an average of 64.74, which is the highest among all the contemporary batsmen. In alltime list, Dravid is placed fifth after Don Bradman,England’s Ken Barrington,Eddie Paynter and Wally Hammond.

Gautam Gambhir (139) scored his maiden century in Test Cricket. His previous highest was 96 against South Africa at Kanpur last month.

The second wicket partnership of 259 runs between Dravid and Gambhir is India's best against Bangladesh for any wicket. The pair obliterated the 164-run partnership between Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly in the Dhaka Test last week. Incidentally India's previous highest second wicket partnership against Bangladesh was 53 (unbroken) between Shiv Sunder Das and Rahul Dravid at Dhaka in November 2000.

The Gambhir-Dravid partnership is India’s highest for the second wicket abroad. This expunges the 237-run partnership betweeen Pankaj Roy and Vijay Manjrekar against West Indies at Kingston in 1952-53.

India became only the second side after Australia to post 200-plus partnerships against all other 9 Test playing countries.


Day 2:
India’s total of 540 is their highest against Bangladesh bettering the 526 at Dhaka in the previous Test.

India made 500 (or more) runs in successive innings for the seventh time in Test cricket. During the 1992-93 season India had put up three totals of 500-plus in consecutive innings – twice against England and once against Zimbabwe.The following table gives details of instances of 500-plus totals posted by India in successive innings:

Score	Overs	Vs	Venue	   Season

560-6d	165	Eng	Madras	   1992-93

591	189.3	Eng	Bombay WS  1992-93

536-7d	132	Zim	Delhi	   1992-93

				

566-6d	142.2	WI 	Delhi	   1978-79

644-7d	189.4	WI 	Kanpur	   1978-79

				

517-5d	170	Aus	Bombay WS  1986-87

676-6	167.1	SL	Kanpur	   1986-87

				

511	161.5	SL 	Lucknow    1993-94

541-6d	161	SL 	Bangalore  1993-94

				

657-7d	178	Aus	Kolkata    2000-01

501	165	Aus	Chennai    2000-01

				

628-8d	180.1	Eng	Headingley 2002

508	170	Eng	The Oval   2002

				

526	136.4	BD	Dhaka	   2004-05

540	148.2	BD	Chittagong 2004-05

India have now made 500-plus total in three consecutive innings of overseas matches – 600 v Pakistan at Rawalpindi in April 2004,
526 v Bangladesh at Dhaka in first Test of this series and 540 here. In fact India have now posted 500-plus total five times in last six overseas Tests.

Rahul Dravid (160) has now made five scores of 150-plus on foreign soil equalling Sunil Gavaskar’s tally. Now only Sachin Tendulkar (7) is ahead of him among the Indian batsmen.

Sourav Ganguly (88) became most prolific run-scoring Indian captain in overseas matches. He surpassed Mohammad Azharuddin's run-aggregate of 1,517 (ave.37.93) in 27 Tests overseas as captain. Amongst the Indian captains with a minimum of 500 runs overseas as Captain, only Sachin Tendulkar has the better average than Ganguly.

Ganguly has now scored three fifties in successive innings against Bangladesh. He had made 84 at Dhaka in November 2000 and 71 at Dhaka in the first Test of this series.

The 75-run partnership between Sourav Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh is the highest for ninth wicket for any side against Bangladesh obliterating the 56 run-partnership between Mluleki Nkala and Brian Murphy for Zimbabwe at Bulawayo QSC in 2000-01.

Incidentally the previous highest ninth wicket partnership for India against Bangladesh was a paltry 25 between Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh in the first Test at Dhaka.

Day 3:
The wicket of Aftab Ahmed (in first innings) was 900th for Anil Kumble in first class cricket. He was playing his 192nd first-class match. Kumble became only the fifth Indian after Bishan Singh Bedi (1,560), S Venkataraghavan (1,390), Bhagwat Chandrasekhar (1,063) and Erapally Prasanna (957) to have done so.

Zaheer Khan completed his century of wickets when he had Manjural Islam Rana LBW in first innings. He became the fourth Indian pacer after Kapil Dev (434 in 131 Tests), Javagal Srinath (236 in 67) and Karsan Ghavri (109 in 39) to capture 100 or more wickets. Ghavri’s tally though includes a few wickets as a spinner. Overall, he is the 15th Indian bowler to do so.

Mohammad Ashraful (158*) made the highest individual score by a Bangladeshi batsman bettering the 145 by Aminul Islam also against India at Dhaka in November 2000. Ashraful’s previous personal best was 114 against Sri Lanka at Colombo SSC in 2001-02.

Ashraful also became the second batsman from Bangladesh to score more than one Test century after Habibul Bashar, who has three centuries to his credit.

Ashraful completed 1,000 runs in Test cricket when his score reached 49. He became third batsman from Bangladesh to do so after Habibul Bashar and Javed Omer.

Khaled Mashud became fourth Bangladeshi batsman to aggregate 1,000 runs in Test cricket when his score reached 20 in first innings.

The fourth wicket partnership of 70 between Habibul Bashar and Ashraful is Bangladesh's best for this wicket against India obliterating the 65-run partnership between Aminul Islam and Akram Khan at Dhaka in 2000-01.

The fifth wicket stand of 115 between Ashraful and Aftab Ahmed is Bangladesh's first century partnership for any wicket against India. Bangladesh’s previous highest partnership was of 93 runs for the seventh wicket between Aminual Islam and Khaled Mashud at Dhaka in 2000-01. Incidentally the previous highest fifth wicket partnership for Bangladesh against India was a paltry 21 between Aminul Islam and Al Sahariar at Dhaka in 2000-01.

The tenth wicket partnership of 21 between Ashraful and Nazmul Hossain in first innings was a record for Bangladesh against India, bettering the 15 between Bikash Das and Hasibul Hossain at Dhaka in 2000-01. However Talha Jubair and Nazmul Hossain by adding 34 runs without being separated in the second innings set a new record.

Bangladesh’s total of 333 is their highest ever total at Chittagong in seven Tests, bettering their 301 against Zimbabwe in 2001-02.

Sourav Ganguly provided the 24th instance of an Indian captain asking the opponents to follow-on. It was however only the sixth such occasion on foreign soil.

India have now enforced follow-on against all other Test playing countries excepting South Africa.

Irfan Pathan (5-32) produced his third five-wicket haul - all against Bangladesh.

In a day when 16 wickets fell, five Bangladesh batsmen - Aftab Ahmed,Mohammad Rafique, Habibul Bashar,Manjural Islam Rana and Khaled Mashud – suffered the ignominy of getting out TWICE on the same day. Manjural Islam Rana, infact, joined the select band of cricketers who got a pair on the same day. There has been only one better performance for India in this regard. Six Pakistani batsmen were dismissed twice on the third day of Delhi Test in 1952-53, which was also Pakistan’s first ever Test match. At Bangalore in 1993-94 five Sri Lankan batsmen were out twice on the third day of the Test.

Manjural Islam Rana got his first pair in Test cricket. He became second Bangladeshi after Rajin Saleh to get a pair against India.

Day 4:
The victory by an innings and 83 runs gave India their third win in a row on foreign soil – their best sequence overseas. Interestingly all three wins have come by an innings margin - by innings & 131 runs v Pakistan at Rawalpindi, by innings & 140 runs v Bangladesh at Dhaka and by innings & 83 runs v Bangladesh here at Chittagong.

India registered their 23rd win on foreign soil – ninth under Ganguly’s captaincy. No other Indian captain has won more than three Tests on foreign soil.

The victory was India’s sixth in the year 2004, which equals their best performance in a calendar year. In 2002 also India won six Tests, but then India played 16 Tests as against 12 in 2004.

Bangladesh suffered their 31st loss in Test cricket in the 34th Test. Of these 20 have been lost by innings. In fact they have lost their last five Test matches by an innings margin.

Irfan Pathan ended the series with 18 wickets to his name. His tally of the wickets is the highest for an Indian speedster in a two match series. The previous record was of 16 wickets held by Chetan Sharma against England in 1986 (that series consisted of three matches but Chetan played in only 2 Tests).

Infact Irfan’s performance is the second best for any Indian bowler in a two match series. Only Anil Kumble has taken more wickets than Irfan – 21 v Pakistan in 1998-99.

Before the series against Bangladesh, Irfan had taken 21 wickets in 8 Tests at an average of 41.19. After the series Pathan has taken 39 wickets at an average of 27.66 – an improvement of 13.53 points !

Harbhajan Singh has now taken 189 wickets and is at level with Erapally Prasanna as the most successful off-spinner for India.

India won both Tests of the series on the fourth day. Out of the 34 Tests Bangladesh have played, only six have gone into the fifth day (excluding three where at least one day’s play was lost due to rain etc.).

Extras contributed 21.77% in Bangladesh’s second innings total - fifth highest contribution made by extras in an all-out innings in Test cricket. The accompanying table has the details:

%	Ex Score For	Vs	Venue	   Season

25.29	43  170	 Eng	WI   St. John's	  1985-86

23.75	38  160	 NZ 	Pak  Lahore	  1990-91

23.37	68  291	 Pak	WI   Bridgetown	  1976-77

22.93	36  157	 NZ 	WI   Auckland	  1986-87

21.77	27  124	 BD	Ind  Chittagong	  2004-05

21.60	46  213	 Ind	WI   Port-of-Spain1988-89

21.37	53  248	 Aus	WI   Georgetown	  1990-91

20.63	52  252	 Eng	WI   Trent Bridge 1980

20.26	46  227	 Eng	Pak  Lord's	  1982

20.00	39  195	 WI 	Pak  Faisalabad	  1990-91

14.44% of Bangladesh runs in the match came in the form of extras. This is the highest percentage of extras conceded by India in a match where opponents lost all 20 wickets. The previous record was of 13.57% extras which was made in the Chandigarh Test against Sri Lanka in 1990-91. India conceded 38 extras in Sri Lanka’s match total of 280 (8 and 30 extras in Sri Lanka’s innings of 82 and 198 respectively).

Bangladesh were bundled out for 124 in 26.4 overs (160 balls) in second innings. This is the second lowest COMPLETED innings against India in terms of balls. India had dismissed England for 102 in only 158 balls in second innings of Mumbai Test in 1981-82.

Talha Jubair (31) top scored for Bangladesh in second innings. This provided only the sixth instance of a number 11 batsman top-scoring in a completed innings. This was the first such instance against India. The last # 11 batsman to top score in an innings was Sri Lankan Jayantha Amerasinghe (v New Zealand at Kandy in 1983-84).

Mohammad Ashraful won Man of the Match award. He now holds the unique record of winning Man of the Match award twice for a side that lost a Test by innings margin. Ashraful had also shared the award with Muttiah Muralitharan in his debut Test in Colombo SSC in 2001-02, which Bangladesh lost by an innings and 137 runs.

Most batsmen dismissed TWICE on the same day

The third day of Chittagong Test saw some extraordinary cricket with Bangladesh batsmen producing a grand show of counter attack. 397 runs were scored in only 86.3 overs at a run-rate of 4.58! However in doing so Bangladesh lost 16 wickets in the day and were staring at innings defeat when play met a premature end due to the bad light. Five Bangladesh batsmen - Aftab Ahmed,Mohammad Rafique, Habibul Bashar,Manjural Islam Rana and Khaled Mashud – suffered the ignominy of getting out TWICE on one day. Manjural Islam Rana, infact, joined the select band of cricketers who got a pair on the same day.

Getting five batsmen out twice on the same day is no mean achievement. There has been only one better performance for India in its history of 382 Tests. Six Pakistani batsmen were dismissed twice on the third day of Delhi Test in 1952-53, which was also Pakistan’s first ever Test match.

There is one more instance of five batsmen out twice on the same day against India. At Bangalore in 1993-94, Sri Lanka's Roshan Mahanama, Hashan Tillakaratne, Arjuna Ranatunga, Sanath Jayasuriya and Pubudu Dassanayake had to suffer this misfortune.

Interestingly the world record in this category is hold by India. Nine Indian batsmen were dismissed twice on the third day of Old Trafford Test against England in 1952,when India created history by becoming first side to be bundled out twice in a single day.

McGrath's devastating bowling

At Perth McGrath created havoc in Pakistan camps as he scythed through the top order taking the first seven wickets in Pakistan's second innings. McGrath ended with incredible figures of 8 for 24 as Australia handed Pakistan their worst defeat in Test cricket.

The only Australian to better McGrath's performance was spinner Arthur Mailey, who picked up nine for 121 against England in Melbourne in 1920-21.

Interestingly McGrath had not achieved a five-for at Perth before - 4 for 49 against Pakistan in 1999-00 being his previous best.

McGrath’s figures the third most devastating in Test cricket by a bowler picking up 8 wickets in an innings. The details:

Most devastating 8-wicket innings hauls

Fig   Bowler	  For  Vs  Venue	  Season

8-7   GA Lohmann  Eng  SA  Port Elizabeth 1895-96

8-11  J Briggs    Eng  SA  Cape Town	  1888-89

8-24  GD McGrath  Aus  Pak Perth	  2004-05

8-29  SF Barnes   Eng  SA  The Oval	  1912

8-29  CEH Croft   WI   Pak Port-of-Spain  1976-77

8-31  F Laver	  Aus  Eng Old Trafford   1909

8-31  FS Trueman  Eng  Ind Old Trafford   1952

8-34  IT Botham   Eng  Pak Lord's	  1978

8-35  GA Lohmann  Eng  Aus Sydney	  1886-87

8-38  GD McGrath  Aus  Eng Lord's	  1997

8-38  LR Gibbs    WI   Ind Bridgetown	  1961-62

First-class & Test debut in same match

Nazmul Hossain, who made his Test debut against India in Chittagong Test yesterday, got his name entered into record books for a rather unusual reason.

Nazmul did not have any experience of first-class cricket and he played Test match straightaway - like a student doing his graduation without completing his primary education !

Nazmul thus joined the selected band of cricketers who made their first-class and Test debut in the same match.Nazmul's feat was highlighted in a number of websites and newspapers,but none gave the correct figure of cricketers,who have this peculiar record on their name.Some claimed that Nazmul was fifth player in Test history to do so, while some claimed him to be the fifth from Bangladesh.None of these claims were correct.

Nazmul is the 33rd player to have made his first-class and Test debut in the same match. The lion share of this list is held by South Africa with 21 such players, followed by 5 from England,two each from Australia and Bangladesh and one each from New Zealand, Pakistan and Zimbabwe.

Australia's JR Hodges & TK Kendell were the first two players to do so and they did in the very first Test itself.

Nazmul emulated Mashrafe Mortaza,who holds the record of making most Test appearances in this elite list.

Nazmul is the third player to make his f-c and Test debut in the same match against India. The other two are New Zealander Graham Vivian (at Calcutta in 1964-65) and Zimbabwean Ujesh Ranchod (at Delhi in 1992-93).

Dravid's record hundred

Rahul Dravid,by scoring a century against Bangladesh in Chittagong today, joined the exclusive club of three other players- Australia's Steve Waugh,South Africa's Gary Kirsten and fellow teammate Sachin Tendulkar in scoring a century against all other nine Test playing countries.

His century, however, made him earn a unique record which none of the other three players or for that matter any player in the world has got on his name.

DRAVID IS THE FIRST EVER BATSMAN IN TEST HISTORY TO SCORE A CENTURY IN ALL 10 TEST PLAYING COUNTRIES.

Waugh did not play any Test in Bangladesh and his highest score in Sri Lanka was only 19. Though Waugh's tally of centuries do include a century at a neutral venue (Sharjah v Pakistan in 2002-03). Kirsten, likewise Waugh, also did not play in Bangladesh and he too found Sri Lankan spinners too hard to handle with a highest of 55 in Sri Lanka. Tendulkar’s highest on Zimbabwean soil has been 74, otherwise he has scored at least a century in all Test playing countries.

The country-wise break-up of Dravid’s 18 centuries: 6 in India, 3 in England, 2 in New Zealand (in the same match) and one each in Australia, South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka,Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

Come to think of it,Dravid's record can only be emulated and not broken until of course ICC grants Test status to a new side,which is highly unlikely in near future,having seen the way Bangladesh are performing.

Test Cricket at Chittagong

First-class cricket started in MA Aziz Stadium (also known as Chittagong Stadium) way back in December 1954 when touring Indians played against East Pakistan. Two seasons later MCC also played a match there. Thereafter it was only in October 1999 that a cricket match of significance was played on this ground, though football matches have been played regularly here.. In all a total of 6 Tests have been played here and Bangladesh have suffered defeat in all of them. With the exception of the first Test (Bangladesh v Zimbabwe in November 2001) all Tests on this ground have been completed within four days.


Bangladesh have won toss five times out of the six Tests played on this ground- thrice they have batted first only to be bundled out for less than 200 on all the three occasions. Bangladesh’s highest total batting first is 194. On two occasions when Oppositions were inserted in, the lowest has been 326.

Summary of Test matches played at MA Aziz Stadium:
2001-02: Zim (542-7 & 11-2) beat BD (251 & 301) by 8 wickets
2001-02: BD (148 & 148) lost to Pak (465-9) by inns & 169 runs
2002-03: BD (194 & 212) lost to WI (296 & 111-3) by 7 wickets
2002-03: BD (173 & 237) lost to SA (470-2) by inns & 60 runs
2003-04: Eng (326 & 293-5) beat BD (152 & 138) by 329 runs
2004-05: NZ (545-6) beat BD (182 & 262) by inns & 101 runs

Highest Team Total: 545-6d by New Zealand in 2004-05
for Bangladesh: 301 v Zimbabwe in 2001-02

Lowest Team Total: 138 by Bangladesh v England in 2003-04
v Bangladesh: 296 by West Indies in 2002-03

Highest Individual Innings: 222* by Jacobus Rudolph (SA) in 2002-03
for Bangladesh: 108 by Habibul Bashar v Zimbabwe in 2001-02

Best Innings Bowling : 6-70 by Daniel Vettori in 2004-05
for Bangladesh : 4-60 by Mashrafe Mortaza v England in 2003-04

Best Match Bowling: 12-170 by Daniel Vettori in 2004-05
for Bangladesh: 6-117 by Tapash Baisya v West Indies in 2002-03

Kumble's amazing world record

Anil Kumble got a world record on his name in Dhaka Test, which almost went unnoticed. At the end of this Test, Kumble has taken 438 wickets in 91 Tests. In doing so, he has now dismissed 206 different batsmen – which is the highest number for any bowler in Test cricket history. The previous record was held by Pakistan’s Wasim Akram who dismissed 205 different batsmen while aggregating 414 wickets in the career

Biggest win ever for India overseas

India’s win by an innings and 140 runs over Bangladesh at Dhaka is their biggest ever win on foreign soil (by innings margin). It is India’s second biggest in all Tests – home or abroad. The details:

Margin	        Vs	Venue	        Season	Test

Inns & 219 runs	Aus	Calcutta	1997-98	2nd

Inns & 140 runs	BD	Dhaka	        2004-05	1st

Inns & 131 runs	Pak	Rawalpindi	2003-04	3rd

Inns & 119 runs	SL	Lucknow 	1993-94	1st

Inns & 112 runs	WI	Mumbai (WS)	2002-03	1st

Inns & 109 runs	NZ	Chennai	        1955-56	5th

Inns & 106 runs	SL	Nagpur	        1986-87	2nd

Inns & 101 runs	Zim	Nagpur	        2001-02	1st

Inns & 100 runs	Aus	Mumbai (WS)	1979-80	6th

Another feather to Tendulkar's cap

Sachin Tendulkar added yet another feather to his cap by becoming the third Indian to complete 18,000 runs in first class cricket during his innings of 159* against Bangaldesh on Saturday.

Sunil Gavaskar and Vijay Hazare are the only two other batsmen to have done so for India. Tendulkar's , however, is the quickest in terms of innings. Also his average is the highest among top-10 Indian batsmen.

Tendulkar equals Gavaskar's record

Sachin Tendulkar equalled Sunil Gavaskar's world record of 34 Test centuries.Tendulkar achieved the milestone when he took a single off paceman Tapas Baishya on the second day of the first Test against Bangladesh at the Bangabandhu National Stadium at Dhaka on Saturday.Interestingly, Gavaskar's 34th century had come in his 206th innings, while Tendulkar is playing only his 192nd innings.

He also became only the third player in history of Test cricket, after South Africa's Gary Kirsten and Australia's Steve Waugh to score centuries against all Test-playing nations.

The century against Bangladesh is the 19th for Tendulkar away from home -- a new world record. He was earlier at level with Sunil Gavaskar with 18 centuries.

Tendulkar's 34 centuries have been made on 25 different grounds -- four at Chennai, three apiece at Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo and Nagpur, two apiece at Ahmedabad and Sydney and once each at Bloemfontein, Bangalore, Cape Town, Colombo (Premadasa), Delhi, Dhaka, Edgbaston, Headingley, Johannesburg, Kolkata, Lucknow, Melbourne, Mohali, Multan, Mumbai (Wankhede), Old Trafford, Perth, Port-of-Spain, Trent Bridge and Wellington.

Countrywise break-up of Tendulkar's 34 centuries -- 15 in India, 4 apiece in Australia, England and Sri Lanka, 3 in South Africa and one apiece in Bangladesh, New Zealand, Pakistan and West Indies. Zimbabwe is the only country where Tendulkar has not yet scored a century.

Did you know that….

Anil Kumble’s tally of wickets (434) is much more than the total wickets taken by all Bangladesh bowlers put together (266).

Sachin Tendulkar has 33 centuries to his credit, whereas all Bangladesh cricketers, who have played Test cricket (a total of 39), have managed to aggregate only 8. Tendulkar and Dravid have together aggregated 16,798 runs in 335 innings at an average of 56.55 whereas all Bangladesh players have aggregated 11,496 runs in 685 innings at an average of 18.54.

Bangladesh have not registered a single win in 32 Tests they have played so far. Pathetic, one would imagine. But it still is not a Test record. New Zealand had to wait for 44 Tests (from 1929-30 to 1955-56) for their first Test victory. India, for the record, recorded their maiden win in only their 25th Test.

Khaled Masud captained Bangladesh in 12 matches and lost all of them! No other player is anywhere near to Masud’s ‘remarkable’ feat.

Habibul Bashar has appeared in 30 Tests for Bangladesh without ever being on the winning side. Only one player has the ‘better’ record. In all of his 42 Tests New Zealand’s Bert Sutcliffe was not in a winning side even once!

Bashar has top scored for Bangladesh 19 times in 58 completed innings – a percentage of 32.75. Only West Indian George Headley (37.50%) and Australia’s Don Bradman (34.43%) have better record than Habibul Bashar in all Test cricket.

Bangladesh remains the only team to lose their inaugural Test despite scoring 400 runs in first innings. In fact their total of 400 is the second highest by a country in its inaugural Test after Zimbabwe's 456 also against India at Harare in 1992-93.

Naimur Rahman returned the figures of 6-132 in Bangladesh’s inaugural Test (v India, Dhaka, November 2000), which are the second best by a bowler in his country's inaugural Test after Australian Tom Kendall's 7 for 55 against England at Melbourne in 1876-77. However Rahman’s figures are the best by a bowler in first innings of his country's inaugural Test.
Aminul Islam’s innings of 145 in Dhaka Test in 2000-01 is the second highest by any batsman in a country’s inaugural Test after Australian Charles Bannerman’s 165 (retired hurt) v England at Melbourne in 1886-87.

Between 2001-02 and 2003-04 Bangladesh faced defeat in 21 consecutive Tests – a world record.

India-Bangladesh : Down Memory Lane

India and Bangladesh have played only Test match so far. Played from 10-13 November, 2000 at Bangabandhu Stadium in Dhaka, this Test was also the first Test on Bangladesh soil involving the hosts (The Asian Test Championship Final between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in March 1999 on this same ground was the first ever on Bangladesh soil).

Saber Chowdhury, the president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, described his country's elevation to Test status as the third most historic event in their national life, behind independence and the adoption of a United Nations mother-tongue day commemorating the suppression of the Bengali language under Pakistani rule.

Certainly, the five days of celebrations leading up to the inaugural Test against India reflected its perceived importance to the national well-being. Among the gestures of goodwill from the existing Test nations was the donation of ten corneas from the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka to help visually impaired Bangladeshis. Two of them were fitted in time for the beneficiaries to see the game.

A near-capacity crowd watched the first day's play, which began after an opening ceremony in which parachutists carried flags from each of the ten Test-playing countries into the Bangabandhu Stadium. During the tea interval, Naimur Rahman, the Bangladesh captain, and Yuvraj Singh, a member of the Indian squad, injected four children with a polio vaccine to promote a new immunisation programme.

Sourav Ganguly started his captaincy stint with this match only. Opener SS Das, wicket-keeper Saba Karim and left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan made their Test debut for India alongwith 11 Bangladeshi players. Saba Karim achieved a peculiar distinction. Having made his first-class cricket debut way back in 1982-83,Karim was making his 118th first-class match- most by an Indian debutant.

The positive attitude of electing to bat reflected Bangladesh's preparation for the event. And for at least two-thirds of this contest, Bangladesh surpassed all expectations by matching their neighbours, and at times even enjoying the upper hand. Ultimately, they lacked the stamina, experience and, possibly, the self-belief to overcome an Indian side well short of their best, although ending a run of 22 away Tests without success since they beat Sri Lanka at Colombo in August 1993. Australia, who beat England in 1876-77, and Zimbabwe, who drew with India in 1992-93, remained the only countries to avoid defeat on Test debut.

The quiet pessimism of those who felt Bangladesh would struggle to make India bat twice seemed well founded. They had failed to win any of their previous ten first-class matches, and had just completed a chastening tour of South Africa. Furthermore, their selection process was exposed as chaotic when two of the most experienced players, Enamul Haque and Habibul Bashar, were reinstated in the squad at the personal behest of board president Chowdhury, to the governing body's embarrassment. It was a reflection of how successfully they began that the expected defeat was eventually greeted with widespread disappointment, and heavy newspaper criticism for their second-innings collapse. If the players learned anything, it was that supporters have short memories.

Expectations were raised largely through the performance of Aminul Islam, a familiar figure on English club grounds. His 145 represented the third century for a country playing their inaugural Test, and the highest since Australian Charles Bannerman retired hurt on 165 in 1876-77. Only Dave Houghton of Zimbabwe had achieved the feat in between. Aminul demonstrated great patience, underpinning Bangladesh's first innings for 535 minutes of solid graft, hitting 17 fours from his 380 balls. Before the end of the game, he was a taka millionaire on donations alone, He added 66 for the third wicket with Habibul Bashar, who lived up to his name with some beefy strikes against an attack badly missing Anil Kumble. Indian wicket-keeper Saba Karim suffered a torrid induction, and Srinath seemed rusty on his return from injury. Only Joshi, the left-arm spinner, exerted both control and menace, returning five for 142, the best figures of his punctuated Test career.

Almost as important as the 400 runs they scored, Bangladesh occupied the crease for more than ten hours on a pitch showing signs of variable bounce. When Tendulkar fell to a catch at short leg to leave India 190 for five, the possibility grew of a result that could, without exaggeration, have been described as sensational. However, Ganguly, captaining his country for the first time in Tests, and Joshi added 121 for the seventh wicket late on the third day to bring India closer to parity. A missed opportunity to run out Joshi just after tea proved crucial; only 12 at the time, he scored a Test-best 92 lasting four hours.

Captain Naimur Rahman returned six for 132, bettered only by Bannerman's colleague Tom Kendall (seven for 55) for a side in its first Test. But the fact that India's last three wickets saw them through to lunch on the fourth day clearly had a dispiriting effect on Bangladesh. Morale depreciated further when Srinath forced Shahriar Hossain to retire hurt after a short ball struck him on the head. The discipline they had shown first time around deserted them, with Mehrab Hossain, driving loosely, and Habibul, hooking compulsively, particularly at fault. Bangladesh's first-innings 400 had been the second-highest total on Test debut, after Zimbabwe's 456 against India; now 91 was the second-lowest, after South Africa's 84 against England in 1888-89. Dravid and Das saw India home comfortably under floodlights, switched on as the light started to fade. Sunil Joshi was adjudged Man of the Match for his allround performance.


(acknowledgement to Wisden Almanack & The Hindu)

Statistical Highlights: India v South Africa: Kolkata Test

1st Day:

• Sourav Ganguly lost a toss for 26th time in his career. He now holds the dubious distinction of losing most tosses by an Indian captain. Ganguly was earlier at level with Sunil Gavaskar with 25 losses.
  
• Rahul Dravid equalled Sachin Tendulkar’s world record of most consecutive Test appearances since debut. Tendulkar had played 84 Test matches at a trot since his debut against Pakistan in 1989-90.
  
• Hashim Amla, right-handed batsman and right-arm medium pace bowler, became first player of Indian origin to play Test cricket for South Africa. Overall he is the 295th player to make a Test appearance for South Africa.
  
• Irfan Pathan (3-61) recorded his best bowling figures at home, surpassing his 1 for 38 against Australia at Bangalore last month. In his previous two Tests at home he had claimed only two wickets at an average of 84.00.
  
• Jacques Kallis (103 not out) scored 17th hundred of his Test career and first against India. His previous highest against India was 95 at Bangalore in 1999-00.
  
• This was also Kallis’ 100th score of 50 or more in first-class cricket.
  
• Kallis has now scored Test hundreds against as many as 8 countries. The only country against which Kallis has not been able to score a century is Sri Lanka. Kallis thus became the third South African batsman to score hundreds against 8 countries after Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs. Kirsten, in fact, is the only South African batsman to have scored hundreds against all other (9) Test playing countries.
  
• The 109-run partnership for the third wicket between Rudolph and Kallis is South Africa's best for this wicket in India, obliterating the 85-run partnership between Andrew Hall and Jacques Kallis at Kanpur in first Test of this series.

2nd Day:

• Jacques Kallis, just before getting out, completed his 1,000 runs in Test matches in calendar year 2004 – in his ninth Test and 16th innings.
  
• A total of 10 batsmen- West Indians Brian Lara, Chris Gayle & Ramnaresh Sarwan, Sri Lankans Sanath Jayasuriya & Kumar Sangakkara, Australians Damien Martyn, Matthew Hayden & Justin Langer and Indian Virender Sehwag- have aggregated 1,000 runs in 2004. Never before in cricket history so many batsmen aggregated 1,000 or more runs in a calendar year. The previous record was of a maximum of six batsmen performing this feat in 2001, 2002 and 2003.
  
• Kallis also became only the second South African batsman after Herschelle Gibbs to aggregate 1,000 runs in a calendar year on two separate occasions (Kallis had also aggregated 1,120 runs in 13 Tests in 2001). Gibbs had performed the feat in 2001 and 2003.
  
• The dismissal of Kallis was only the second ‘bowled’ dismissal for Ganguly. Out of the 25 wickets taken by Ganguly so far, 10 victims were caught behind, 7 caught in the field and 6 LBW. The only batsman (other than Kallis) bowled by Ganguly was Australia’s Mark Waugh in Sydney Test in 1999-00.
  
• The wicket of Shaun Pollock was 61st for Anil Kumble in the year 2004. With this he equalled England’s Steve Harmison’s tally to become the joint highest wicket-taker in 2004.
  
• Dinesh Karthik became the second Indian wicketkeeper to take four catches in an innings against South Africa after Nayan Mongia who did so twice- 5 catches in the first innings of the Durban Test in 1996-97 and 4 in the first innings of the Cape Town Test in the same series.
  
• The unbroken second wicket partnership of 112 runs between Sehwag and Dravid is India's best against South Africa in India obliterating the 76 between the same pair in the previous Test at Kanpur.
  
  3rd day:
  
• Virender Sehwag (88) became the quickest Indian to aggregate 2,500 runs in Test cricket. Sehwag needed only 47 innings to reach this landmark, which are 3 less than Rahul Dravid, the previous record holder for India. In all Test cricket, Sehwag is the joint fifth fastest to aggregate 2,500 runs in a career after Don Bradman,Everton Weekes,Herbert Sutcliffe & Neil Harvey and alongwith Wally Hammond,Dennis Compton and Viv Richards.
  
• Sachin Tendulkar (20) has now aggregated 104 runs in his last nine innings. His sequence of scores since making unbeaten 194 against Pakistan at Multan in March this year are : 2, 8, 1, 8, 2, 5, 55, 3 & 20.
  
• Tendulkar has now played nine consecutive innings without scoring a century since his 194* against Pakistan at Multan earlier this year. He is now inching towards his longest lean patch. Tendulkar’s longest century-less sequence is of 13 consecutive innings - on two separate occasions. Tendulkar’s maiden Test century had come after 13 innings. Then again he played 13 innings between his century # 31 and 32.
  
• Rahul Dravid (80) was making a score of 80 (or more) without reaching to three-figure mark for the 15th time in his career. He has now equalled Australia’s Steve Waugh and West Indies’ Brian Lara’s tally of such scores. Now only one batsman – England’s Mike Atherton – is ahead of Dravid with 16 scores between 80 and 99.
  
• The 51-run unbroken partnership between Dinesh Karthik and Irfan Pathan for the seventh wicket is India's highest against South Africa on Indian soil. The pair obliterated the previous best of 42 between Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath at this same venue in 1996-97.
  
  4th day:
• Shaun Pollock, during India's innings of 411, became 11th bowler (and only the fifth paceman) to bowl 1,000 or more maiden overs in Test cricket. Apart from Pollock, only, Kapil Dev,Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Glenn McGrath have done the same in Tests. Incidentally Pollock has the highest percentage of maiden overs among his tribe, averaging 30.58. Behind him is McGrath with 30.04.
  
• The 19 leg-byes in Indian innings are the highest for India against South Africa. The previous record was of 15 leg-byes in the first innings of Johannesburg Test in 1996-97. Incidentally the 19 leg-byes are third highest conceded by South Africa in a Test innings.
  
• India, for the first time, posted 400-plus scores in two successive innings against South Africa. In Kanpur Test, India had made 466 in their only innings.
  
• South Africa, for the first time, conceded a lead of 100 or more runs in the first innings to India.
  
• Graeme Smith (71) became the fastest South African to complete 2,500 runs in Test cricket. Smith needed 48th innings to perform this feat, which is two less than AD Nourse’s – the previous record holder - tally. However Nourse still remains the fastest for South Africa in terms of Tests as he reached this landmark in his 27th Test. Smith is placed second with 28 Tests.
  
• Anil Kumble went one up on all Test bowlers in world cricket this year when he dismissed Boeta Dippenaar. It was his 62nd scalp of 2004, bettering England’s Steve Harmison's tally of 61 in 11 Tests and Australia’s Shane Warne's 61 in 10 Tests. Kumble is in the midst of his 10th Test.
  
• A look at the Kumble’s performance in 2004: He started the year by picking up 12 wickets in Sydney Test against Australia, Kumble then prised out 15 Pakistani batsmen during India’s maiden series win in Pakistan, got a career best 27 scalps in four Tests against Australians at home, and bowled with great heart on Kanpur’s lifeless track removing six South African batsmen. And his two wickets at the Eden Gardens have guided him to the very top of the ladder.
  
• Dippenaar's wicket was also Kumble's 432nd in Test Cricket, which takes him ahead of New Zealander Richard Hadlee's tally of 431 (in 86 Tests) and puts him into the sixth place in the all-time list of most successful bowlers. The list is headed by Shane Warne (552) and followed by Muttiah Muralitharan (532), Courtney Walsh (519), Glenn McGrath (463) and Kapil Dev (434).
  
• Jacques Kallis followed his first innings 121 with an unbeaten 52 in the second innings. He thus became second South African and only the 16th batsman to score a century and a fifty in the same Test against India in India.
  
• Harbhajan Singh (4-58) achieved his best figures against South Africa. His previous best against South Africa was 2 for 39 in the second innings of Kanpur Test last week.
  
  5th Day:
  
• Shaun Pollock just managed to complete the all-round double of 3,000 runs and 300 wickets during his innings of 6. He became the fifth all-rounder in Test cricket history to complete this coveted 'Double' after England’s Ian Botham, Pakistan’s Imran Khan, New Zealand’s Richard Hadlee and India’s Kapil Dev.
  
• Pollock, however, is the slowest in terms of Tests taken to accomplish this feat having done so in his 87th Test. Botham remains the fastest with 72, followed by Imran (75), Hadlee (83) and Kapil (83).
  
• Harbhajan Singh’s figures of 7 for 87 in the second innings are the best for India against South Africa, obliterating Javagal Srinath's 6 for 21 at Ahmedabad in 1996-97.
  
• This was the fifth occasion Harbhajan was taking seven (or more) wickets in an innings. He thus equalled Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble’s record of most seven-wicket innings hauls for India.
  
• Harbhajan’s match figures of 9 for 141 are the best for India against South Africa in a home Test. Srinath had returned the figures of 8 for 68 in Ahmedabad Test in 1996-97, which were the previous best. However the record of best bowling for India in a match against South Africa – home or away – is still held by Venkatesh Prasad, who had the figures of 10 for 153 at Durban in 1996-97.
  
• Harbhajan has now taken his wicket tally to 29 (from just 4 games) at Eden Gardens, Kolkata to equal Bishan Singh Bedi’s record of most wickets on this ground. Bedi, however, played six Tests for his 29 wickets.
  Anil Kumble equalled Kapil Dev’s record of most wickets in a Test career for India when he had last man Makhaya Ntini caught in the slip (by Rahul Dravid). Kumble needed only 90 Tests as against Kapil Dev’s 131 to claim 434 wickets.
  
• Kumble has now taken 66 wickets in 16 Tests against South Africa – most for India. He surpassed former teammate Javagal Srinath’s tally of 64 wickets in 13 Tests.
  
• Sachin Tendulkar (32*) completed his 1,000 runs against South Africa with the shot that also sealed India’s victory. He was playing his 16th Test and 29th innings against South Africa. Tendulkar became first batsman in India-South Africa Tests to perform this feat.
  
• Tendulkar has now aggregated 1,000 runs against SIX countries – 1859 in 21 Tests v Australia, 1683 in 16 Tests v England, 1328 in 16 Tests v West Indies, 1124 in 13 Tests v Sri Lanka, 1062 in 16 Tests v New Zealand….and now 1,003 in 16 Tests v South Africa. Tendulkar’s feat of aggregating 1,000 runs against six countries is unparalleled in Test cricket. Three batsman – Allan Border, Steve Waugh and David Gower- have aggregated 1,000 runs against FIVE different countries.
  
• The win by 8 wickets is India’s only third against South Africa in 16 Tests. India’s only two other wins against South Africa came in the same series - by 64 runs at Ahmedabad in November 1996 and by 280 runs at Kanpur in December 1996.
  
• India have now registered Test wins against 8 countries under Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy. The only country against which Ganguly is yet to win India a Test is New Zealand.
  
• India’s 1-0 win is their second series win over South Africa. They had beaten South Africa 2-1 in a three match series in 1996-97.
  
• It is also India’s first series win in last two years at home. India had last beaten West Indies by 2-0 in 2002-03.
• Harbhajan Singh was winning a Man of the Match award for the fourth time in his career. His other MoM awards are- v Australia at Chennai in 2000-01, v Zimbabwe at Delhi in 2001-02 and v West Indies at Chennai in 2002-03.
  
• Virender Sehwag was adjudged Man of the Series for the second time in his career. His first and only other such award was against Pakistan in Pakistan in 2003-04.
  
• At the end of the series:
  India’s overall playing record: played 380, won 79, lost 126, drawn 174 and tied one.
  South Africa’s overall playing record: played 292, won 94, lost 104 and drawn 94.
  Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy record: played 42, won 16, lost 12 and drawn 14.
  Graeme Smith’s captaincy record: played 20, won 8, lost 6 and drawn 6.

Ganguly: Emperor of Lost Tosses

Ganguly by losing the toss in Kolkata Test, became the Indian captain with most toss losses against his name. It was the 26th occasion that Ganguly lost a toss in his 42 Tests in which he has captained India. Ganguly was previously at level with Sunil Gavaskar with 25 toss losses.

The accompanying table lists Indian captains with most toss losses:

Captain              Tests  Won  Lost Winning%

SC Ganguly            42    16    26   38.09

SM Gavaskar           47    22    25   46.81

Nawab of Pataudi (jr) 40    20    20   50.00

Kapil Dev             34    15    19   44.12

M Azharuddin          47    29    18   61.70

L Amarnath            15     4    11   26.67

SR Tendulkar          25    15    10   60.00