Tendulkar tops the 90s list

Sachin Tendulkar's 99 against South Africa at Stormont was the first time he missed an international hundred by a solitary run. It was the 26th instance in ODIs, and the fourth by an Indian batsman - Krishnamachari Srikkanth, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid being the others to be dismissed for 99.

Tendulkar already has 41 centuries in one-day internationals, but that figure could have been much closer to 50 had he moved on to a three-figure score every time he entered the nineties - he has now been dismissed 11 times when within ten or fewer runs of an ODI hundred, which is more than any other batsman. Nathan Astle, Aravinda de Silva and Grant Flower have scored nine nineties, while Mohammad Azharuddin and Jacques Kallis - who made an unbeaten 91 in the game - have seven.

Tendulkar also became only the fifth batsman to be run out for 99 in ODIs. Adam Gilchrist, Sanath Jayasuriya, Ed Morgan and Graeme Smith are the others, which makes Tendulkar (and this is strictly for the trivia-inclined) the first right-hander to be run out for 99 in ODIs.

The 158-run stand between Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid is easily the highest for the third wicket for India versus South Africa. The earlier record was a paltry 88 between Dravid and Sourav Ganguly at Jamshedpur in 2000. The stand was also the 11th time the two batsmen had put together a century partnership. In 89 stands, Tendulkar and Dravid have added 3902 runs at an average of 46.45. The only player with whom Dravid has scored more runs is Sourav Ganguly - 4227 runs in 85 innings at 50.32.

South Africa, meanwhile, were led by Jacques Kallis yet again - his unbeaten 91 was his tenth 50-plus score in 29 ODIs against India - a team versus whom he averages 68.88. South Africa's four-wicket win was also their fifth successive ODI victory against India.