- It was the 1486th match in Test history.
It was the 333rd Test for India and 242nd for South Africa.It was the 12th match between these two sides.The record now
reads : South Africa 6,India 2,drawn 4.It was the 13th match on this ground. The record now reads :
India 4,opponents 4,drawn 5.South Africa was playing for the
first time on this ground.Umpires Russel Tiffin and AV Jayaprakash were officiating in
their 14th and fourth match respectively.Mohammad Kaif and Nikhil Chopra were making their Test
debut.They became 227th and 228th player to play Test cricket
for India.Nikhil Chopra made his Test debut after playing 36 One-Day
Internationals.Only Robin Singh has played in more ODIs (60)
before making Test debut for India (Venkatesh Prasad also
appeared in 36 ODIs).The world record in this regard is held
by Australia's Adam Gilchrist.with 76 ODIs.Sachin Tendulkar (21),on 5,became the fifth Indian and 29th
batsman in Test annals to complete 6000 runs in a Test career He was
playing his 76th Test and 120th innings.Tendulkar,at 26 years and 313 days became the youngest player to
complete his 6000 runs,beating the previous record of Pakistan's Javed
Miandad quite comprehensively.Miandad was 30 years and 57 days old
while completing his 6000 runs.The previous Indian record was held by
Sunil Gavaskar with 31 years 198 days of age.By taking just 120 innings to complete his 6000 runs, Tendulkar
became the seventh quickest to do so after Don Bradman (68),Garry
Sobers (111), Wally Hammond (114),Len Hutton (116),Ken Barrington
(116), and Sunil Gavaskar (117).Viv Richards had also taken 120
innings for his 6000 runs.Gary Kirsten (79),on 58,completed his 4000 Test runs. He
became first South African and 65th batsman overall to do
so.He was playing his 60th Test and 105th innings.Nicky Boje's innings (85) was the 12th highest by a
nightwatchman in Test cricket and joint second highest
against India.Fellow team-mate Mark Boucher holds the
distinction of being the only one to score two hundreds as a
nightwatchman. The following table lists some remarkable
performances by nightwatchmen in Test cricket.Jack Russell
remains the only one to make a fifty plus score as a
nightwatchman on Test debut.
Runs Batsman Came in Countries Venue Season
at
125 Mark Boucher 205-4 SA v Zim Harare 1999-00
108 Mark Boucher 244-4 SA v Eng Durban 1999-00
105 Tony Mann 13-1 Aus v Ind Perth 1977-98
101* Syed Kirmani 231-3 Ind v Aus Bombay 1979-80
101 Nasim ul Ghani 77-4 Pak v Eng Lord's 1962
99* Alex Tudor 3-1 Eng v NZ Birmingham 1999
98 Harold Larwood 153-2 Eng v Aus Sydney 1932-33
95 Eddie Hemmings 3-1 Eng v Aus Sydney 1982-83
94 Jack Russell 40-1 Eng v SL Lord's 1988
87 Peter Taylor 54-2 Aus v NZ Wellington 1979-80
85 Wasim Bari 19-1 Pak v Ind Lahore 1978-79
85 Nicky Boje 10-1 SA v Ind Bangalore 1999-00
The fifth wicket partnership of 164 between Jacques Kallis
and Lance Klusener is South Africa's highest for this wicket
in any Test,home and away,against India,forging ahead of the
previous highest of 99 between Daryll Cullinan and Jonty
Rhodes at Johannesburg in 1996-97 and a modest stand of 31
between Hansie Cronje and Dave Richardson at Ahmedabad in
1996-97.The partnership is the third highest for South Africa for
fifth wicket against all countries after the 192 run
partnership between Gary Kirsten and Mark Boucher against
England at Durban in 1999-00 and 184 runs partnership between
Hansie Cronje and Jonty Rhodes at Lord's in 1998.The partnership is also the second highest by any side
against India on latter's soil after the 254 run stand
between England's Keith Fletcher and Tony Greig at Mumbai in
1972-73.The wicket of Jacques Kallis was 50th for Anil Kumble in his
12th match.He became second Indian after Javagal Srinath and
11th bowler overall to do so against South Africa.South Africa's total (479) was the sixth highest in Test
cricket that did not include an individual hundred. It was
the second highest such total for South Africa.The details :Hs Score
524-9d Ind v NZ Kanpur 1976-77 70
517 SA v Aus Adelaide 1997-98 87*
500-8d Pak v Aus Melbourne 1981-82 95
485 Aus v NZ Christchurch 1992-93 88
485 Ind v SL Nagpur 1997-98 99
479 SA v Ind Bangalore 1999-00 97
477-9d Eng v SA Leeds 1994 99
476 Aus v Eng Adelaide 1911-12 98
475 WI v Ind Bridgetown 1961-62 96
Nayan Mongia conceded 24 byes in South Africa's only
innings.It was the third maximum amount of byes conceded
by an Indian keeper in a Test innings. Budhi Kunderan had
conceded 29 byes in England's total of 559 at Kanpur in 1963-
64.Nayan Mongia conceded 28 in Sri Lanka's record total of
952 at Colombo (Premadasa) in 1997-98 and MSK Prasad conceded
24 in NewZealand's second innings total of 251-7 at Mohali in
1999-00.The three catches by Wasim Jaffer in South Africa's only
innings were the most taken by an Indian in the field against
South Africa.He equalled VVS Laxman's tally in the first
match of this series.Anil Kumble (6-143) took five or more wickets in an innings
for the 16th time in his career.He thus equalled Bhagwat
Chandrasekhar's tally.Now only Kapil Dev,23,has taken more
five wicket innings hauls than Kumble for India.It was Kumble's 12th five wicket innings haul in his 31st
Test on Indian soil-most for any bowler.He surpassed Kapil's
tally of 11 five wicket hauls from 65 Tests.Kumble has now taken most wickets on this ground - 28 in
just 4 Tests.He surpassed Kapil Dev's tally of 27 wickets
from 8 Tests.Mohammad Azharuddin scored his 22nd hundred in his 99th
Test.He now has most hundreds contemporary batsman alongwith
fellow team-mate Sachin Tendulkar.It was Azharuddin's 13th hundred on Indian soil in his 46th
Test.He thus equalled Dilip Vengsarkar's tally of hundreds on
Indian soil.Now only Sunil Gavaskar (16 hundreds in 65 Tests)
is ahead of Azharuddin.The hundred was Azharuddin's fourth against South Africa in
11th Test.Among the contemporary batsmen only Australia's
Mark Waugh has scored so many hundreds (in 12 Tests).The
alltime record,however,is held by another Australian Neil
Harvey (8 hundreds in 14 Tests).Azharuddin now holds the dubious distinction of scoring seven
hundreds for India in matches which it has lost.He thus joins
fellow team-mate Sachin Tendulkar to score maximum-sevenhundreds-and yet ended up on losing side.During his three figure innings,Azharuddin regained his
position of leading run-scorer for India against South
Africa.Azharuddin's run-aggregate against South Africa at
the end of this match reads as 779 runs from 11 Tests
(ave.41.00).He overtook Tendulkar's aggregate of 755 from as
many Tests (ave.34.31).Nicky Boje's figures (5-83) in India's second innings are
the second best by a spinner for South Africa since its
return to international cricket in 1991-92 after Paul Adams
6 for 55 also against India at Kanpur in 1996-97.Nicky Boje became 10th South African to perform the allround
feat of scoring a fifty and capturing five wickets in an
innings in same match.The details :Batting Bowling Allrounder Opp. Venue Season
106 6-26 J.H.Sinclair Eng Cape Town 1898-99
90 6-92 C.B.Llewellyn Aus Johannesburg 1902-03
78 & 123 5-120 G.A.Faulkner Eng Johannesburg 1909-10
61 5-102 R.O.Schwarz Aus Sydney 1910-11
72* 5-87 B.Mitchell Aus Durban 1935-36
74 5-69 T.L.Goddard Eng Leeds 1955
66* 6-81 P.S.de Villiers Pak Johannesburg 1994-95
70* 6-50 S.M.Pollock Pak Durban 1997-98
110 & 88* 5-90 J.H.Kallis WI Cape Town 1998-99
85 5-83 N.Boje Ind Bangalore 1999-00
Boje also became 14th player (on 15th occasion) to perform
the allround feat of a fifty and five wicket haul in same
match against India.England's Ian Botham has done so twice.
The last allrounder to do so was WestIndies Carl Hooper (81
& 67,5-116,Nagpur,1994-95).The victory was South Africa's 27th under Hansie Cronje's
captaincy.This puts Cronje at level with Viv Richards among
the captains with most Test wins.Now only Clive Lloyd (36)
and Allan Border (32) have more Test wins as a captain .The defeat was India's 32nd by an innings margin-first
against South Africa.India hasn't faced innings defeat in 55
home Tests prior to this Test.Incidentally the last occasion
India lost a home Test by an innings was against WestIndies
at Calcutta in 1983-84.The defeat was India's fifth in a row.India is now inching
towards its worst run in Test cricket. It had lost seven
consecutive matches from Leeds 1967 (v England) to Sydney
1967-68 (v Australia).India lost a home series for the first time since losing to
Pakistan (1-0) in a five match series in 1986-87.It was also
the seventh occasion when India was completely routed in a
series. India had suffered the ultimate ignominy of losing
all five matches of a series on two occasions - versus
England in 1959 and WestIndies in 1961-62. India had earlier
suffered a 4-0 whitewash by invincible Australians in 1947-
48.India later lost all the three matches of a series versus
England (in 1967 and 1974) and Australia (in 1999-00).
What is unique with India's series loss against South Africa
is that this was achieved on home soil.India's all other
pathetic performances in a series came on foreign soil.The last time India lost two consecutive matches in same
series on home soil was way back in 1976-77 when England
emerged victorious in first two Tests (Delhi and Calcutta) of
a five match series (infact England went on to win Chennai
Test to make it three in a row).South Africa last series defeat came against England in 1998
by 2-1.Since then it has won five series in a row.The
sequence being : 5-0 v WestIndies (5),1-0 v NewZealand (3),2-
0 v Zimbabwe (2),2-1 v England (5) and now 2-0 v India (2).At the end of the series :South Africa's overall Test record : played 242,won 70, lost
91 and drawn 81.
India's overall Test record : played 333,won 61,lost 112,
drawn 159 and tied 1.
Hansie Cronje's captaincy record : played 53,won 27,lost 11
and drawn 15.
Sachin Tendulkar's captaincy record : played 25,won 4, lost 9
and drawn 12.