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2nd Test, India v Sri Lanka, Statistical Highlights

Rajneesh Gupta

August 26, 2001

Text size: A | A

It was 1558th Test in cricket history.
It was India's 343rd and Sri Lanka's 113th Test match.
It was the 22nd Test between these two sides. The record now reads : India 8, Sri Lanka 2 ,drawn 12.
It was the 11th Test between these two sides. The record now reads : India 2, Sri Lanka 2,drawn 7.
Tyronne Wijewardene was making his debut as a Test umpire. He became 16th Sri Lankan to officiate in a Test match. The other umpire Steve Bucknor was officiating in his 60th match.
Chaminda Vaas was playing in his 50th Test. He became the seventh Sri Lankan and the 172nd player in all to do so. England's Andrew Caddick became 173rd player to appear in 50 or more matches a day after Vaas doing so.
Hashan Tillakaratne became fourth Sri Lankan to complete 3000 runs in a Test career when he scored his 7th run in second innings. He was playing his 58th match and 94th innings. Others with 3000 plus runs for Sri Lanka are Aravinda de Silva (5952 runs in 89 matches), Arjuna Ranatunga (5105 in 93) and Sanath Jayasuriya (3730 in 61).
Muralitharan (67) made his maiden fifty in his 67th Test. His innings was the second highest by a number nine batsman for Sri Lanka after Graeme Labrooy's 70* against New Zealand at Auckland in 1990-91. Muralitharan's previous highest was 39 against India at Colombo SSC in 1997-98 which was also the previous highest score for Sri Lanka against India at number nine.
The 64-run partnership between Muralitharan and Ruchira Perera in second innings was Sri Lanka's best for tenth wicket against India. The previous best was 44 between Asoka de Silva and Rumesh Ratnayake at Nagpur in 1986-87. The pair however just failed to better Sri Lanka's best tenth wicket partnership in all Tests which still remains as 73 between Hashan Tillakaratne and Sajeewa de Silva against Pakistan at Dhaka in 1998-99.
Venkatesh Prasad's second innings figures of 5 for 72 are the best bowling figures by an Indian in Sri Lanka bettering Anil Kumble's 5 for 87 in first innings of Colombo (SSC) Test in 1993-94.
Saurav Ganguly's 98* was his first fifty in 14 innings. After his unbeaten 65 against Zimbabwe at Delhi in 2000-01 he scored 30,8,1,23,48,22,4,5,9,0,15,4 and 18.
Ganguly's innings equalled the highest unbeaten score in the nineties by an Indian batsman. Dilip Vengsarkar had scored an unbeaten 98 also against Sri Lanka at Colombo SSC in 1985-86. Other Indian batsmen who remained unbeaten in the nineties are Gundappa Viswanath (97* v West Indies at Madras in 1974-75) and Ajit Wadekar (91* v Australia at Delhi in 1969-70).
Ganguly also became the seventh Indian captain on the eighth occasion to record a score in the nineties. Sachin Tendulkar has suffered this fate on two occasions. Interestingly Ganguly is the only among the seven to end on the winning side.
India's total of 264 for three was its second highest in the fourth innings to win a Test . It was also only the third time India successfully chased a target of 250 plus in the fourth innings of a Test. The first instance came on October 15,1964 against Australia at Brabourne Stadium in Bombay when India made 256-8 chasing a target of 254. The second instance was against West Indies on April 12,1976 when India made history by making 406-4 after being set a target of 403. India's total in that Test remains the highest ever winning total achieved by any side in the fourth innings of a Test.
The 264-run target set by Sri Lanka provided the 67th instance when India was asked to score over 250 in the fourth innings to win a Test match. India has won only three, tied one (v Australia at Madras in 1986-87), drawn 28 and lost 35. The accompanying table lists India's wins after being set a victory target of 125 or more by opponents in the fourth innings :

Total	Opponents	Target	Venue	Test	Season
406-4	West Indies	402	Port-of-Spain	3rd	1975-76
264-3	Sri Lanka	264	Kandy	2nd	2001
256-8	Australia	253	Bombay	2nd	1964-65
200-5	New Zealand	199	Dunedin	1st	1967-68
190-3	Zimbabwe	189	Delhi	1st	2000-01
184-2	Zimbabwe	183	Bulawayo Q.C.	1st	2001
181-3	Australia	180	Delhi	3rd	1969-70
174-6	England	172	The Oval	3rd	1971
155-8	Australia	154	Madras	3rd	2000-01
151-2	New Zealand	150	Bangalore	1st	1995-96
136-5	England	133	Lord's	1st	1986
125-7	West Indies	124	Madras	4th	1978-79
125-3	West Indies	123	Port-of-Spain	2nd	1970-71

With the win over Sri Lanka in Kandy Test, Saurav Ganguly equalled the record of winning most Tests on foreign soil as Indian captain. This was Ganguly's third Test win away from home. The other being v Bangladesh at Dhaka in November 2000 and v Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in June this year. He thus equalled the tally of Bishan Singh Bedi and Nawab of Pataudi junior for India who have also won three Tests apiece. India has won only 16 Tests on foreign soil out of a total of 161 . Following are the lucky captains:

Total	Matches	Won	Lost	Drawn	Ties	Winning %
SC Ganguly	5	3	2	0	0	60.00
Nawab of Pataudi jr.	13	3	10	0	0	23.08
BS Bedi	14	3	8	3	0	21.43
AL Wadekar	11	2	3	6	0	18.18
Kapil Dev	14	2	3	9	0	14.29
SM Gavaskar	18	2	6	10	0	11.11
M Azharuddin	27	1	10	16	0	3.70

Kandy once again proved to be a jinxed venue for Sri Lanka who lost their third successive Test here after taking a 1-0 lead in the series. England and South Africa, the previous two countries to tour Sri Lanka earlier, had both conceded a 0-1 lead to the hosts at Galle in their three-Test series but equalised at Kandy. Out of a total of 12 Tests played at Kandy, Sri Lanka has lost seven, drawn three and won only two.
Saurav Ganguly was winning his third Man-of-the-Match award in Tests. His other awards were against England at Nottingham in 1996 and against Sri Lanka at Mumbai in 1997-98.

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