Day 1:

• Rahul Dravid by winning the toss provided the first instance of toss win for India in the series.
• Gautam Gambhir and Dinesh Kaarthik for India and Nathan Hauritz for Australia were making their Test debuts. A total of 250 Indians and 390 Australians have now played Test cricket.
• Gambhir and Sehwag became 18th pair to open the innings for India since 2000. There have been only 8 century partnerships in 85 innings for India during this period. During the same period, Australia have used only four opening pairs, who have put on 15 century stands in 94 innings

  Batsmen                 Runs  Inn  NO  Best    Ave  100s 50s  0s
  VVS Laxman  MSK Prasad    32    2   0    22   16.00   0   0   0
  W Jaffer    VVS Laxman    13    2   0     8    6.50   0   0   0
  RS Dravid   W Jaffer      76    2   0    47   38.00   0   0   0
  SS Das      S Ramesh     836   19   0   123   44.00   2   6   1
  SS Das      SS Dighe       8    1   0     8    8.00   0   0   0
  HK Badani   SS Das         7    1   0     7    7.00   0   0   0
  SS Das      RS Dravid     36    2   0    29   18.00   0   0   0
  SS Das      D Dasgupta   321   10   0   119   32.10   1   2   1
  D Dasgupta  IR Siddiqui    5    1   1     5*   -      0   0   0
  SB Bangar   SS Das        24    2   0    18   12.00   0   0   0
  SS Das      W Jaffer     117    5   0    80   23.40   0   1   1
  W Jaffer    V Sehwag      69    4   0    61   17.25   0   1   1
  SB Bangar   V Sehwag     452   10   0   201   45.20   1   2   1
  SB Bangar   PA Patel       2    1   0     2    2.00   0   0   0
  A Chopra    V Sehwag     897   19   0   164   47.21   4   2   1
  PA Patel    V Sehwag       0    1   0     0    0.00   0   0   1
  V Sehwag    Yuvraj Singh  47    2   1    28   47.00   0   0   0
  

• India went into this Test with only one genuine pacer. This was the first such instance since Bangalore Test v England in 2001-02, when India played with only Javagal Srinath (Sourav Ganguly shared the new ball).
• India’s total of 22 for 2 is the lowest ever total on the first day of a Test in India where some play was possible. On three other occasions no play was possible on the first day of a Test in India.

Day 2:

• India (104) recorded their lowest ever total against Australia at home soil eclipsing the 135 in the first innings of the 1959-60 Delhi Test.
• India’s total is also their lowest on this ground against all countries. The previous lowest was 113 against South Africa in 1999-00. India, however, narrowly failed to beat the LOWEST ever total on this ground by any side. England are the holder of this dubious record as they were bundled out for 102 in 1981-82 series.
• Sachin Tendulkar (5) extended his run of single digit-scores to six. His scores in last six innings are - 2, 8, 1, 8, 2 & 5 – a total of 26 runs at an average of 4.33 !
• Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden today became the most prolific opening pair in Australian Test history, surpassing the aggregate of 3887 by Michael Slater and Mark Taylor. Langer-Hayden pair is now the third most successful opening pair in entire Test history behind Greenidge & Haynes for West Indies and Atapattu & Jayasuriya for Sri Lanka.The following table lists the most successful opening pairs in Test cricket:

  Partners                      Runs   For  Inns  NO    Ave     Hs  100   50
  CG Greenidge & DL Haynes      6482   WI    148  11   47.31   298   16   26
  MS Atapattu & ST Jayasuriya   4159   SL    106   6   41.59   335    9   21
  ML Hayden & JL Langer         3896   Aus    66   1   59.93   255   12   14
  MJ Slater & MA Taylor         3887   Aus    78   2   51.14   260   10   16
  WM Lawry & RB Simpson         3596   Aus    62   3   60.95   382    9   18
  JB Hobbs & H Sutcliffe        3249   Eng    38   1   87.81   283   15   10
  CPS Chauhan & SM Gavaskar     3010   Ind    59   3   53.75   213   10   10
  

• The catch of Justin Langer (off the bowling of Zaheer Khan) was the 109th catch for Rahul Dravid in his 82nd Test. He thus became the leading fieldsman for India in Test cricket, overhauling Sunil Gavaskar's tally of 108 catches (from 125 Tests).
• Matthew Hayden (35) became the leading run-scorer for Australia against India in India, surpassing Allan Border’s run-tally of 766 runs in 16 innings of 9 Tests. Hayden, at the end of this innings, has aggregated 769 runs in 13 innings of 7 Tests.
• Matthew Hayden took his tally of sixes to 68 with three sixes during his innings of 35. He is now at fifth place in the list of most sixes in Test Cricket after New Zealand’s Chris Cairns (87) and three West Indians- Viv Richards (84), Clive Lloyd (70) and Brian Lara (69)
• Damien Martyn (55) on 28 completed his 1000 runs in the calendar year 2004 (in his tenth Test). He became first Australian and the sixth batsman to aggregate 1000 (or more) runs in 2004 after West Indians Brian Lara (1178 runs in 12 Tests) and Chris Gayle (1135 in 12), Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya (1130 in 11), Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara (1114 in 11) and West Indian Ramnaresh Sarwan (1005 in 12).
• Anil Kumble (5-90) took a five-wicket haul for the 27th time in an innings- ninth time against Australia and 19th time at home soil.
• Kumble completed his 50 wickets in the calendar year 2004 with the wicket of Simon Katich. He became third bowler to perform this feat in 2004 after England’s Steve Harmison (61 wickets in 11 Tests) and Australia’s Shane Warne (50 in 8).
• Kumble also completed 25 wickets in the series with the wicket of Jason Gillespie- this was the first time Kumble was taking 25 wickets in a series in his career. His previous best wicket-aggregate in a series was 24 also against Australia in 2003-04 series. This means that Kumble has aggregated 50 wickets in two back to back series against Australia!
• The five-for also made Kumble the leading wicket-taker at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, taking him past Kapil Dev’s tally of 28 wickets (from 11 appearances). At the end of this innings, Kumble has taken 32 wickets in 6 Tests on this ground.
• Mohammad Kaif became the second Indian fielder (non wicket-keeper) to take 4 catches in an innings against Australia. Krish Srikkanth had taken 5 catches in Australia's first innings at Perth in 1991-92.
• Murali Kartik (4-44) achieved best figures of his Test career, obliterating the 3-57 in the third Test of this series at Nagpur.

Day 3:

• The wicket of Gambhir was Glenn McGrath’s 50th against India (in his 11th Test). He became second Australian after Richie Benaud (52 wickets in 8 Tests) to do so.
• Rahul Dravid (27) became third Indian (after Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar) and 25th batsman in Test history to complete 7000 runs when his score reached 5.
• By taking 82 Tests to complete his 7000 runs, Dravid became the third fastest to do so after West Indian Gary Sobers (79 Tests) and India’s Sunil Gavaskar and England’s Wally Hammond (80 each).
• The catch of Dravid (off the bowling of Clarke) gave Adam Gilchrist his 50th wicket-keeping dismissal (48 catches & 2 stumpings) against India in 14th Test. He became first Australian and fourth wicket-keeper after West Indian Jeff Dujon (60),Pakistan’s Wasim Bari (55) and England’s Alan Knott (54) to do so.
• Michael Clarke (6.2-0-9-6) achieved his best first-class figures. His is a strange case. Prior to this bowling performance his first-class bowling figures were:

  Balls Mdns  Runs  Wkts   Best    Ave.       SR       RpO
  901    23    514    7    2-25    73.42    128.71    3.42
  After his Mumbai performance:
  Balls Mdns  Runs  Wkts   Best    Ave.       SR       RpO
  939    23    523   13    6-9     40.23     72.23    3.34
  

  This means he nearly doubled his entire career haul in one swoop!
• Clarke’s figures are the fourth most economical by a bowler taking six or more wickets in an innings after West Indies’ Jeremy Lawson's 6-3 against Bangladesh at Dhaka in 2002-03, England’s Aurthur Gilligan's 6-7 against South Africa at Birmingham in 1924 and England’s George Lohmann’s 8-7 against South Africa at Port Elizabeth in 1895-96.
• Australia, chasing a victory target of only 107, were bowled out for a paltry 93.This is now the third lowest target in Test history that a side failed to achieve. The accompanying table has the details:

  Target  Made  Country     Venue           Year      Result
   85      77   England     The Oval        1882      Australia Won by 7 Runs 
   99      63   Zimbabwe    Port-of-Spain   1999-00   West Indies Won by 35 Runs 
  107      93   Australia   Mumbai WS       2004-05   India won by 13 runs
  111      97   Australia   Sydney          1886-87   England Won by 13 Runs 
  111      44   Australia   The Oval        1896      England Won by 66 Runs 
  117     111   Australia   Sydney          1993-94   South Africa Won by 5 Runs 
  120      81   India       Bridgetown      1996-97   West Indies Won by 38 Runs 
  

• Australia’s total of 93 is their lowest on Indian soil and second lowest against India after the 83 at Melbourne in 1980-81. Australia’s previous lowest total in India was 105 at Kanpur in 1959-60.
• India, by winning this match by 13 runs, recorded their narrowest victory in Test cricket. Their previous narrowest win (by runs margin) was by 28 runs against England at Calcutta in 1972-73. The win was 14th narrowest of alltime in Test chronicles.The details:

  Margin
   1   WI   (252 & 146) beat Aus (213 & 184)   Adelaide     1992-93    
   3   Aus  (299 & 86)  beat Eng (262 & 120)   Manchester   1902       
   3   Eng  (284 & 294) beat Aus (287 & 288)   Melbourne    1982-83    
   5   SA   (169 & 239) beat Aus (292 & 111)   Sydney       1993-94    
   6   Aus  (181 & 165) beat Eng (133 & 207)   Sydney       1884-85    
   7   Aus  (63 & 122)  beat Eng (101 & 77)    The Oval     1882       
   7   SA   (253 & 231) beat SL (308 & 169)    Kandy        2000       
  10   Eng  (325 & 437) beat Aus (586 & 166)   Sydney       1894-95    
  11   Aus  (489 & 250) beat Eng (365 & 363)   Adelaide     1924-25    
  12   Eng  (334 & 383) beat Aus (369 & 336)   Adelaide     1928-29    
  12   Eng  (270 & 244) beat Aus (340 & 162)   Melbourne    1998-99    
  12   Pak  (238 & 286) beat Ind (254 & 258)   Chennai      1998-99    
  13   Eng  (45 & 184)  beat Aus (119 & 97)    Sydney       1886-87    
  13   Ind  (104 & 205) beat Aus (203 & 93)    Mumbai WS    2004-05
  

• 20 wickets fell on the third day – most on Indian soil in a single day’s play. Overall it was the 24th instance of 20 or more wickets falling in a single day’s play in Test cricket. The record was made on the second day of Lord’s Test between England and Australia in 1888 when as many as 27 wickets fell in the day.
• This was only the third time India were winning a Test in three days. The other two occasions being v Pakistan at Delhi in 1952-53 and v New Zealand at Bangalore in 1995-96.
• India’s first innings total of 104 is the seventh lowest first innings total in Test annals for a side that eventually emerged victorious. India’s previous lowest first innings winning total was 152 also against Australia at Kanpur in 1959-60. India won that Test by 119 runs!
• Murali Kartik (4-44 & 3-32) won his maiden Man of the Match award in his seventh Test.

(Article: Copyright © 2004 Rajneesh Gupta)