It was the 1659th ODI in cricket history. It was the 458th ODI for India and 169th for Zimbabwe. It was the 33rd ODI between these two teams. The record now reads: India 25, Zimbabwe 6, tied 2. It was the 13th ODI between these two teams in India. The record now reads: India 11, Zimbabwe one, tied one. Umpires CK Sathe and Davender Sharma officiated in their fifth and third match respectively. Ashish Kapoor and Virender Shewag were making a comeback into Indian side after missing 157 and 66 matches respectively between their consecutive appearances. Kapoor last played for India way back in October 1996 (v South Africa at Rajkot on 29-10-1996), while Shewag last appeared for India in April 1999 (v Pakistan at Mohali on 01-04-1999 in his debut match). Kapoor now holds the world record for missing most matches in between two appearances. The previous record was held by Pakistani Sajid Ali who made a re-appearance for Pakistan against Sri Lanka at Sharjah on 07-04-1997 after missing 154 matches. The previous Indian record was in the name of Robin Singh with 146 matches. The record in terms of time is held by Englishman Wayne Larkins who appeared for England during the Nehru Cup against Sri Lanka at Delhi on 15 October-1989, after a gap of nine years and 266 days. The accompanying table lists all players re-appearing after a gap of 100 or more matches:
ODIs Player Last ODI before break First ODI after comeback
157 AR Kapoor(Ind) 29-10-1996 v SA,Rajkot 11-12-2000 v Zim,Kanpur
154 Sajid Ali(Pak) 25-10-1991 v Ind,Sharjah 07-04-1997 v SL,Sharjah
146 RR Singh(Ind) 18-03-1989 v WI,St.John's 03-11-1996 v Aus,Mohali
142 M Hayden(Aus) 19-04-1994 v Ind,Sharjah 17-02-2000 v NZ,W'ton
131 C Lambert(WI) 22-10-1991 v Ind,Sharjah 29-03-1998 v Eng,Br'town
121 D Callaghan(SA) 24-02-1995 v NZ,Ch'church 12-04-2000 v Aus,Durban
118 T Zoehrer(Aus) 09-04-1987 v Eng,Sharjah 16-01-1994 v SA,Perth
117 S Bakht(Pak) 17-12-1982 v Ind,Multan 06-02-1989 v NZ,W'ton
110 W Larkins(Eng) 22-01-1980 v WI,Sydney 15-10-1989 v SL,Delhi
102 R Bright(Aus) 04-06-1981 v Eng,Lord's 26-03-1986 v NZ,W'ton
101 S Rixon(Aus) 12-04-1978 v WI,Castries 13-01-1985 v WI,Brisbane
Zimbabwe's total (165) is its second lowest against India in India and third lowest in all matches against India. The lowest still remains as 135 at Mumbai Wankhede on 17-10-1987. Saurav Ganguly (5-34) took a five wicket haul for the second time in his career. The other being 5 for 16 against Pakistan at Toronto on 18-09-1997. His figures are the best for India against Zimbabwe improving upon Manoj Prabhakar's 4 for 19 at Mumbai Wankhede on 17-10-1987. Ganguly also provided the second instance for India and tenth in all ODI history of a captain capturing five wickets in a match. Kapil Dev with figures of 5 for 43 (v Australia at Nottingham on 13-06-1983) is the only other Indian to do so. Just for the record, West Indian Viv Richards with 6 for 41 (v India at Delhi on 23-10-1989)) holds the record of best figures by a bowler while captaining his side. Ganguly is also the second captain to capture five wickets in a match against Zimbabwe after Pakistan's Wasim Akram who returned the figures of 5 for 15 at Karachi on 24-12-1993. Ajit Agarkar (4-25) returned his best figures in ODIs. His previous best was 4 for 35 against New Zealand at Sharjah on 17-04-1998. Agarkar's economy rate of 2.63 is his second best in his career. He had conceded 14 runs in his six overs (ER 2.33) in the match against Sri Lanka at Nagpur on 22-03-1999. Interestingly it was only the fourth time in his career when he conceded 25 or less runs in an innings. Ganguly and Agarkar claimed all the wickets that fell to bowlers between themselves (one batsman was run-out). This provided only the second instance in ODI history of two bowlers wrapping up the opponent's innings between themselves. The only other instance took place at Birmingham on 04-06-1977 when Greg Chappell and Gary Cosier both took five wickets each in England's total of 171. Ganguly and Agarkar also provided the fourth instance of two Indian bowlers capturing four wickets each in the same match. The details:
Bowlers Figures Opp Total(Overs) Venue Date
Madan Lal 4-20 Aus 129 (38.2) Chelmsford 20-06-1983
Roger Binny 4-29
Sanjeev Sharma 4-50 WI 215 (48.3) Sharjah 16-10-1988
Narendra Hirwani 5-26
Manoj Prabhakar 4-30 WI 221 (48.5) Sharjah 19-10-1991
Anil Kumble 4-50
Saurav Ganguly 5-35 Zim 165 (45.4) Kanpur 11-12-2000
Ajit Agarkar 4-25
Sachin Tendulkar scored his 50th fifty (excluding 26 centuries) in his 262nd match. He became the second Indian after Mohammad Azharuddin-who has scored most fifties in ODIs and sixth batsman in ODI history to do so. The complete list is: Mohammad Azharuddin (58), West Indian Desmond Haynes (57), Sri Lanka's Aravinda de Silva (57) and Pakistan's Inzamam-ul-Haq (56) and Javed Miandad (50). The first wicket unbroken stand of 166 between Ganguly and Tendulkar is the third century stand between this pair against Zimbabwemost by any pair against Zimbabwe. The pair obliterated the record of New Zealanders Nathan Astle and Llorne Howell who have been involved in two century stands against Zimbabwe. It was also the 12th century stand for the first wicket between Ganguly and Tendulkar. The Indian pair is now only three short of equalling the world record of 15 century stands by West Indian pair of Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes. Ganguly (71* & 5-34) became the second Indian and only the eighth allrounder in One-Day history to score a fifty and capture a five wicket haul in the same match. The only other Indian to perform this allround feat is Krish Srikkanth (70 & 5-27 v New Zealand at Visakhapatnam on 10-12-1988. By winning this match with 150 balls to spare India recorded the third biggest victory by any side in ODIs batting second while scoring over 150 runs. The details:
Balls to spare Winner Score Loser Score Venue Date
181 Aus 181/3 Ban 178/7 Chester-le-Street 27-05-1999
157 Aus 172/1 SL 171/10 Perth 03-02-1985
150 Ind 166/1 Zim 165/10 Kanpur 11-12-2000
145 WI 154/0 SA 152/10 Port-of-Spain 11-04-1992
142 Pak 219/1 Ind 216/10 Lahore 02-10-1997
135 Ind 157/5 Zim 155/10 Leicester 11-06-1983
135 SL 168/2 SA 167/10 Colombo SSC 14-07-2000
133 Ind 164/1 Ban 163/10 Sharjah 05-04-1995
130 SA 170/3 Aus 165/10 Perth 18-01-1998
Ganguly won Man of the Match award for the 25th time in his career. Now only Sachin Tendulkar (36), Viv Richards (31), Aravinda de Silva (26) and Desmond Haynes (26) have won more awards than Ganguly. 