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Statistical Highlights 5th match: India v Australia at Colombo (Sinhalese CC) on 28-8-99.

Mohandas Menon

• This match was the 1489th in Limited over international (LOI) history.

• This match was Australia's 439th and India's 408th in LOIs.

• This match was the 57th meeting between the two sides.

• Sri Lankan TH Wijewardene was appearing in his first LOI match as umpire.

• The partnership of 110 between Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds was the best for the 2nd wicket by any team at this venue. It obliterates the previous best of 86 runs between New Zealanders John Wright and Martin Crowe against Pakistan on 7-4-1986.

• Gilchrist's 77 was the highest individual score by an Australian keeper against India. The previous highest was the 68 by Gilchrist himself in the first match at Galle on 23-8-99. Incidentally it was the fifth highest score by a keeper against India.

• Gilchrist however just failed to surpass the highest individual score by a keeper in Sri Lanka, which was 78 by Zimbabwean Andy Flower - also against India at this venue on 1-9-1996.

• Ricky Ponting (32) on 28 reached his 3000th run in his 87th match and innings. He becomes the ninth Australian and the 56th in LOI history to do so. Ponting now has 3004 runs (avg 39.01).

• Srinath's two wickets in the match has taken his tally of to 234 which puts him in the second position among Indian bowlers with maximum wicket aggregates in LOIs. Kapil Dev leads this tally with 253 wickets, while Kumble (233) is now placed third.

• Kumble, who in the last match had equalled his worst wicket-less sequence of his career, when he failed to capture a wicket in three successive LOI matches has finally managed to capture a wicket in this match. He last captured a wicket (infact two) in the WC match against Pakistan.

• Australia's total of 252-8 was its second highest on Sri Lankan soil. The best still remains as 263-7 against Zimbabwe at Colombo (Premadasa) on 26-8-1996.

• When he held the catch of Kambli, Adam Gilchrist in his 67th match as a keeper became the third Australian, after Rodney Marsh and Ian Healy and the 12th in LOIs to take 100 dismissals (83ct+17st). He now has 102 career dismissals (84ct+18st). Incidentally, Gilchrist has played in five more LOI matches as a fielder without taking in catches.

• The partnership of 123 between S Ramesh and Robin Singh just fails to surpass India's best for the sixth wicket in LOIs. The best still remains as 127 between Mohd. Azharuddin and Ajay Sharma against New Zealand at Baroda (Moti Baug) on 17-12-1988.

• However the partnership was the highest ever for the sixth wicket in any LOI match in Sri Lanka. The previous best was the 115 between Sri Lankans Aravinda deSilva and Roshan Mahanama against Australia at Colombo (Premadasa) on 30-8-1996.

• Its also India's highest against Australia for the sixth wicket. It betters the previous best of just 59 runs between Chandrakant Pandit and Kapil Dev at Rajkot on 7-10-1986.

• Gilchrist's four dismissals (3ct+1st) in the match equals his personal best performance of his career. On three other occasions he has taken four dismissals in a match.

• It also equals the best performance by an Australian keeper against India. Rodney Marsh and Wayne Phillips are the others to do so, while Gilchrist remains the only one to do it on two occasions.

• It was the best performance by an Australian keeper on Sri Lankan soil. It also equals the best performance by a visiting keeper in Sri Lanka. Pakistani Zulqarnain and South African Dave Richardson are the only others to do so. Incidentally they have done it on two occasions. Just for the record the only keeper to take five dismissals in Sri Lanka was Sri Lankan Guy deAlwis who held five catches against Australia at Colombo (Saravanamuttu) on 13-4-1983.

• Jason Gillespie's 4-26 was his best performance of his career. It betters his previous best of 3-26 against Sri Lanka at Galle in the first match on 22-8-1999. Its also the best ever performance by an Australian in Sri Lanka against any team. The previous best was the 3-16 by Steve Waugh against Pakistan at this same venue on 7-9-1994.

• Gillespie's bowling performance was also the third best at this venue after India's Venkatesh Prasad's 4-17 v Pakistan on 20-7-1997 and Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya's 4-18 against India on 1-7-1998.

• This was Australia's eleventh consecutive match without defeat (which includes the tie match against South Africa at Birmingham on 17-6-99 - that came after five consecutive victories). This sequence equals the LOI record of West Indies who from 4-6-1984 to 2-2-1985 had won 11 matches in a row. However all the West Indian matches resulted in a victory. It was Australia's best sequence without a defeat - from 23-2-1990 to 2-5-1990 when it won ten matches in a row. Incidentally Australia had also gone with 11 matches without defeat (winning 10 and tieing one, although they had lost the match on technical grounds since their opponents lost fewer wickets) from 7-1-1988 to 12-12-1988. The record for the maximum matches without defeat still remains as 12 by England when it won 11 [and one was a no-result match] from 23-5-1991 to 12-3-1992.

• It was India's fourth succesive defeat in LOIs, its worst sequence since September last year when it lost four in a row to Pakistan at Toronto.

• The Man of the match award was Gilchrist's sixth of his career in 72 matches (& 67 as a keeper). He has now won maximum such awards than any other keeper in LOI history. It surpasses the tally of five awards by Englishman Alec Stewart and Zimbabwean Andy Flower.

Also See
Statistical Highlights 6th match: India v Sri Lanka at Colombo (Sinhalese CC) on 29-8-99.