• This was the 2002nd match in One-Day International cricket history.
• This was the 44th match between these two sides. The record now reads : India 16, South Africa 27,abandoned one.
• Greame Smith was captaining South Africa for the first time in his career. He became the fifth player to captain South Africa in ODIs after Clive Rice, Kepler Wessels, Hansie Cronje and Shaun Pollock.
• At 22 years 71 days, Smith became the second youngest to captain a side in ODIs after Pakistan’s Waqar Younis, who was 21 years 354 days, when he captained his team against the West Indies at Sharjah on 05-11-1993. The accompanying table lists the youngest captains in ODIs :

  Yrs-dys	Captain	Countries	Venue	Date
  21-354	Waqar Younis	Pak v WI	Sharjah	05-11-1993
  22- 71	Graeme Smith	SA v Ind	Dhaka	13-04-2003
  23-126	SR Tendulkar	Ind v SL	Colombo RPS	28-08-1996
  23-162	Javed Miandad	Pak v WI	Karachi	21-11-1980
  23-196	Moin Khan	Pak v Ind	Sharjah	07-04-1995

• Amit Mishra (right handed batsman and leg-break bowler) and Jacobus Rudolph (left handed batsman and leg-break googly bowler) were making their ODI debut. They became 151st and 74th players to represent India and South Africa respectively.
• Mohammad Kaif was playing his 50th match. He became the 34th Indian and the 270th player to do so.
• Charl Willoughby was making a come-back to the South African side after missing 90 matches. He had last appeared for South Africa against Pakistan at Sharjah on 28-03-2000 while making his debut.
• Mkhaya Ntini completed his 100 wickets in ODIs with the wicket of Gautam Gambhir. He became sixth South African and 65th bowler overall to reach this landmark.
• Mohammad Kaif (95*) became 16th Indian (on 43rd occasion) to make a score in ninety. He also became fifth Indian (on fifth occasion) to do so against South Africa.
• Kaif, when on 78, completed his 1000 runs in ODIs. He was playing his 50th match. Kaif became 22nd Indian and 179th batsman overall to do so.
• The fifth wicket partnership of 110* runs between Mohammad Kaif and Dinesh Mongia was India’s best for this wicket against South Aftrica. This obliterated the previous record stand of 94 between Mohammad Azharuddin and Praveen Amre at Kolkata on 24-11-1993.
• India’s total of 307 for four was their second highest against South Africa in all matches after the 310 all out at Nagpur on 19-03-2000. This was obviously their highest total away from home. The previous highest was 295 for six at Nairobi Gym on 13-10-2000.
• Charl Willoughby, by conceding 77 runs in his 10 overs, recorded the second most expensive figures by a South African in ODIs. Teammate Ntini had conceded 83 runs in 9.1 overs against Australia at Port Elizabeth on 06-04-2002. Incidentally Jacques Kallis with figures of 10-0-71-2 , at Nairobi Gym on 13-10-2000, held the previous record of conceding most runs against India for South Africa.
• The defeat margin of 153 runs was South Africa’s second largest in ODIs. Their largest defeat had come at Port Elizabeth on 11-12-2002 when they lost to Pakistan by 182 runs. Incidentally, South Africa's previous biggest loss to India was the 95 run defeat at Nairobi Gym on 13-10-2000.
• Having beaten Bangladesh by 200 runs in the opening match, India became only the second team in ODI history to win two successive matches by a margin of 150 runs or more. Pakistan had beaten Sri Lanka by 217 runs at Sharjah on 17-04-2002. They followed it up with a 153-run win over New Zealand at Karachi on 21-04-2002.
• Mohammad Kaif won his third MoM award in 50th match.

(Article: Copyright © 2003 Rajneesh Gupta)