5th Match, India v Zimbabwe, Statistical Highlights

Vijay Bharadwaj was making a comeback into the Indian side after a gap of 28 months

19-Mar-2002

Vijay Bharadwaj was making a comeback into the Indian side after a gap of 28 months. He last appeared for India against New Zealand at New Delhi on November 17 1999, after a hiatus of 68 matches.

Dinesh Mongia (159*) scored his maiden one-day hundred in his 15th match. His previous highest score was 71 against England at Kolkata on January 19 earlier this year.

Mongia's innings was the fourth-highest by any Indian batsman after Sachin Tendulkar's 186* (v New Zealand at Hyderabad on November 8 1999), Sourav Ganguly's 183 (v Sri Lanka at Taunton on May 26 1999) and Kapil Dev's 175* (v Zimbabwe at Tunbridge Wells on June 18 1983). It was also the 15th highest individual innings by any batsman in the one-day game's history.

Mongia's innings was also the highest by any left-hander against Zimbabwe. Sourav Ganguly, with 144 at Ahmedabad on December 5 2000, was the previous record holder.

Mongia provided the eighth instance of an Indian batsman carrying his bat through a completed innings of 50 overs or more. He joined an elite group consisting of Sourav Ganguly (thrice), Sunil Gavaskar (twice) and Sachin Tendulkar and Manoj Prabhakar (once each).

The fifth-wicket partnership of 158 runs between Mongia and Yuvraj Singh was the best ever partnership for this wicket against Zimbabwe. The pair obliterated the previous record stand of 152 between Pakistan's Ijaz Ahmed and Inzamam-ul-Haq at Harare on February 25 1995. Incidentally, the previous highest fifthwicket stand for India against Zimbabwe was 94 between Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh at Hyderabad in the fourth match of this series.

The partnership was also the highest for the fifth wicket on Indian soil, beating the 147 run-partnership between Roger Twose and Chris Cairns for New Zealand at Poona on November 24 1995. Interestingly, the previous highest stand for India for the fifth wicket at home was 121 between Ajay Jadeja and Hrishikesh Kanitkar against Australia at Kochi on April 1 1998.

Sourav Ganguly's run aggregate after this match reads: 1242 runs from 29 matches against Zimbabwe. This makes him the jointhighest run-scorer against Zimbabwe along with fellow Indian Sachin Tendulkar.

The total (333-6) was India's highest against Zimbabwe, beating the 319-6 achieved at Mohali on March 10 earlier this year. It was also the fourth-highest total for India against all countries.

It was the 19th time that India was posting a total of 300 or more. With this, India equalled Australia's record of scoring 300 or more in a match on most occasions.

The wicket of Alistair Campbell was the 50th for Zaheer Khan. He became the 19th Indian and the 130th bowler overall to reach this milestone. By taking 34 matches to do so, Zaheer became the second-fastest among Indians after Ajit Agarkar, who took his 50th wicket in only his 23rd match.

The sixth-wicket partnership of 84 runs between Grant Flower and Heath Streak was Zimbabwe's best for this wicket against India. The pair passed the previous highest stand of 64 between Guy Whittall and Ali Shah at Indore on November 18 1993.

It was the third time that India was beating Zimbabwe a margin of 100 or more runs. The other two margins were 115 runs at Singapore Kallang on September 4 1999, and 107 runs at the Nairobi Gymkhana on October 1 1999.

Harbhajan Singh's figures (4-33) equalled the best by an Indian spinner against Zimbabwe. Anil Kumble returned identical figures at the Colombo SSC on September 1 1996.

Dinesh Mongia won his maiden Man of the Match award.

Much has been said about India's "dismal" performance at home, but the fact is that India has suffered a loss in a bilateral series at home on only seven occasions out of a total of 27, drawing 3 and winning the remaining 17. Furthermore, India has lost only one bilateral series on home soil since 1987-88 - Australia defeated India by 3-2 margin in 2000-01.

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