It was the 1704th ODI in cricket history. It was Pakistan's 490th and Sri Lanka's 351st match. It was the 85th match between these two sides. The record now reads :
Pakistan 53, Sri Lanka 29,abandoned 2 and tied one. It was the 168th match at this ground- 87th for Pakistan and 58th for Sri Lanka. It was the 50th day-night match at this ground and 450th day-night match in all
ODIs. Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium became only the third ground after
Sydney (102) and Melbourne MCG (64) to host 50 or more floodlit matches. Umpires Doug Cowie and Dave Orchard were officiating in their 57th and 67th
match respectively. Humayun Farhat and Mohammad Sami became 136th and 137th Pakistani to
appear in a ODI, while Akalanka Ganegama became 107th player to represent Sri
Lanka in shorter version of the game.Waqar Younis was making a comeback as Pakistan's skipper. He had last
captained Pakistan in the three nations cup at Singapore against South Africa
on 27-08-2000. Saeed Anwar (90) was becoming a victim of nervous ninety for the fourth time
in his career-his first in Sharjah. Interestingly Anwar's previous highest score at
Sharjah in a match in which he failed to make a hundred was only 72 against
West Indies on 14-10-1999. Anwar has now aggregated 1874 runs in 45 matches at this ground which makes
him the most prolific run-scorer in ODI matches in Sharjah. He surpassed fellow
countryman Inzamam's aggregate of 1854 runs from 44 matches. Anwar has now aggregated 1921 runs from 46 appearances against Sri Lankamost by any batsman against that country. India's Mohammad Azharuddin was
the previous record holder with a tally of 1834 runs from 53 matches. The catch of Shoaib Malik was 30th for Jayasuriya in day-night matches. He has
now taken most catches in such matches moving ahead of Roshan Mahanama. Waqar Younis (4-49) became fourth Pakistani skipper to take a four wicket haul
after Wasim Akram (11 times), Imran Khan (thrice) and Asif Iqbal (once). Sanath Jayasuriya was getting dismissed without scoring for the 17th time in his
career. He is now only inching towards Romesh Kaluwitharana's dubious record
of most ducks by a Sri Lankan in a career. Kaluwitharana has a tally of 19 ducks
from 157 matches and is followed by Arjuna Ranatunga who has 18 ducks from
269 matches. The duck was Jayasuriya's sixth against Pakistan which equalled India's Javagal
Srinath's tally. Now only fellow teammate Muttiah Muralitharan (8) and former
West Indian Gus Logie (7) are ahead of Jayasuriya. Ganegama by failing to open his account, became the 13th Sri Lankan to suffer
the ignominy of getting a duck in debut innings. The other Sri Lankans to record
this dubious feat are Anura Tennekoon (v WI,Manchester,07-06-1975), Anura
Ranasinghe (v WI,Manchester,07-06-1975), Ajith de Silva (v
Pak,Nottingham,14-06-1975), Susil Fernando (v NZ,Dunedin,02-03-1983), Athula
Samarasekera (v Pak,Swansea, 09-06-1983),Roger Wijesuriya (v
Pak,Peshawar,13-10-1985),Champaka Ramanayake (v Pak, Colombo SSC,
11-03-1986),Asanka Gurusinha (v Pak,Hyderabad,03-11-1985), Pramodya
Ickremasinghe (v Pak,Karachi,13-01-1992), Nishantha Ranatunga (v Pak,Sharjah,
04-02-1993), Niroshan Bandaratilleke (v Ind, Colombo RP, 07-07-1998) and
Ruchira Perera (v Eng,Perth,29-01-1999). Ganegama also became only the second Sri Lankan after Ruchira Perera (see
above) and 23rd batsman in ODI history to get a golden duck in debut innings. In
addition three batsmen (Zimbabwean Eddo Brandes, South African CJPG van Zyl
and Australian Paul Wilson) were dismissed without scoring in their debut innings
without facing a ball ! Saeed Anwar was winning his 25th Man of the Match awardhis sixth in floodlit
matches and his ninth at Sharjah. He has now equalled India's Sachin
Tendulkar's tally of most awards at this ground.