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India vs Sri Lanka, Asian Test Championship, Sinhalese Sports Club grounds, Colombo, March 24-28, 1999

Highlights of day one

*Delhi's Ashish Nehra (born: 29-4-79), became the 220th Indian to appear in Tests. He now becomes the only sixth Indian left-arm pace bowler to appear for India in Tests, the others being Ghulam Guard (1958-1960), Umesh Kulkarni (1967-'68), Karsan Ghavri (1974-'81), Dhiraj Parsana (1978-'79) and Rashid Patel (1988-'89).

*Ruchira Perera and Eric Upashantha became the 74th and 75th players to represent Sri Lanka in Tests.

*Mohammad Azharuddin was captaining India for the 47th occasion which equals the record of Sunil Gavaskar for the maximum Test appearances by a Indian captain.

*S Ramesh's maiden Test hundred (143) is now the highest by an Indian batsman scoring a hundred in their very first innings away from home. Saurav Ganguly's 131 (on debut) at Lord's in 1996 was the previous best.

*He however falls just four runs short of the highest score made by an Indian in Sri Lanka. Saurav Ganguly's 147 at this same venue remains the best.

*Ramesh's 143 takes his run aggregate to 466 runs in seven innings (and 4 matches). This places him in the third position among Indians with maximum runs in their first seven Test innings from debut. Only Vinod Kambli (673 runs, 6 matches) and Sunil Gavaskar (554 runs, 4 matches) have scored more. Incidentally Kambli's tally is the best by any batsman in their first seven innings in Test history, while Ramesh now occupies the 15th position among all-time Test batsmen.

* The 232 run partnership between Ramesh and Dravid was India's third highest for the second wicket. Only the 344 (unbeaten) partnership between Gavaskar and Vengsarkar against West Indies at Calcutta in 1978-'79 and 237 between Pankaj Roy and Vijay Manjrekar at Kingston in 1952-'53 exceeds this partnership for the second wicket. However their efforts betters the previous best against Sri Lanka for the second wicket which was 173 between Gavaskar and Vengsarkar at Chennai in 1982-'83.

* The Ramesh-Dravid partnership is now the best by any team at this venue. It surpasses the previous best of 230 (for the 4th wicket) between Asanka Gurusinha and Arjuna Ranatunga against Australia in 1992-'93.

* Sachin Tendulkar (on 53) reached his 1000th run against Sri Lanka. He was playing in his 13th match and 15th innings. He becomes the second Indian batsman after Azharuddin (1132 runs in 17 matches) to do so.

Highlights of day two

* The fourth wicket partnership of 63 between Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar equals India's best at this venue. In 1993-'94 Vinod Kambli and Azharuddin had also put on 63 runs for the fourth wicket.

* Azharuddin's 87 was his second highest score in Tests while not scoring a hundred. Azhar's highest remains as 97 (his only score in the nineties) against West Indies at Nagpur in 1994-'95. Then against New Zealand at Bangalore in 1995-'96 he had a score of 87 runs.

* India became the first visiting team to score 500-plus runs on two seperate occasion in Sri Lanka. India's total of 518-7 decl was also the fourth highest made on Sri Lankan soil. India's total of 537-8 decl at the Premadasa Stadium in August, 1997 remains the highest by a visiting team in Sri Lanka.

Highlights of day four

*Mahela Jayawardene's 242 is the second highest individual score in Sri Lanka. The highest remains the 340 by Sanath Jayasuriya also against India at Colombo (Premadasa) in August, 1997.

*However Jayawardene's score is now the highest at this venue. The previous highest was Brendon Kuruppu's 201 (unbeaten) against New Zealand in 1986-'87.

*Jayawardene's unbeaten 242 takes his run aggreagate to 640 runs in ten innings (and 7 matches). His aggregate was the best by a Sri Lankan in Tests after their 10th innings. Roy Dias had scored 529 runs in his first ten innings however in 5 matches.

*At 21 years and 277 days, Jayawardene became the youngest Sri Lankan to score a double hundred in Tests. The previous youngest being Brendon Kuruppu (see above) at 25 years and 105 days.

* He also becomes the fifth youngest after to score a 200-plus innings in Tests. The full list:

19 yrs & 141 days Javed Miandad (206) Pak v NZ Karachi 1976-77

20 yrs & 314 days GA Headley (223) WI v Eng Kingston 1929-30

21 yrs & 33 days VG Kambli (224) Ind v Eng Mumbai 1992-93

21 yrs & 54 days VG Kambli (227) Ind v Zim Delhi 1992-93

21 yrs & 218 days GS Sobers (365*) WI v Pak Kingston 1957-58

*Although a record 176 runs were added for the fifth wicket, this does not constitute an all-time record for Sri Lanka and also against India since it involved three batsmen. Jayawardene and Arjuna Ranatunga put on 115 before Ranatunga retired hurt. Jayawardene then added 61 runs with Hashan Tillekeratne. Just for the record, Sri Lanka's best for the fifth wicket remains 150 between Sidath Wettimuny and Duleep Mendis against England at Lord's in 1984, and its best against India remains as 144 by Ranjan Mudgalle and Arjuna Ranatunga at Colombo (SSC) in 1985-'86.

* The 76 run partnership between Jayawardene and Vaas for the seventh wicket just fails to better Sri Lanka's best for this wicket against India. The best still remains as 77 between Ranjan Madugalle and Somachandra deSilva at Chennai in 1982-'83.

* However the Jayawardene-Vaas partnership was the best for the seventh wicket at this venue surpassing the 68 runs put on by South Africans Hansie Cronje and Pat Symcox in 1993-'94.

*Anil Kumble's catch of Jayawardene of his own bowling was his 17th such dismissal in 53 Tests. He now equals Australian Richie Benaud (in 63 matches) and is just three short of the Englishman Derek Underwood's Test record of 20 "caught & bowled" dismissals in 86 matches.

*Ramesh's 30 in the second innings takes his run aggregate to 496 runs in eight innings (and 4 matches). This places him in the third position among Indians with maximum runs in their first eight Test innings from debut. Only Vinod Kambli (793 runs, 7 matches) and Sunil Gavaskar (774 runs, 4 matches) have scored more. Incidentally Kambli's tally is the best by any batsman in their first seven innings in Test history, while Ramesh now occupies the 16th position among all-time Test batsmen.

Day five highlights

*The 140 run partnership for the third wicket between Ganguly and Tendulkar was the best for India at this venue. It surpasses the previous best of 87 between Navjot Singh Sidhu and Sachin Tendulkar in 1993-'94.

*Ganguly (78) on 41 reached his 2000th run in his 27th match and 45th innings. He becomes the 26th Indian and the 190th batsman in Test history to do so.

* Tendulkar's unbeaten 124 was his 19th hundred in 68th matches in Tests. It was also his sixth hundred against Sri Lanka. He now becomes the batsman with the highest number of centuries against Sri Lanka. Team-mate Azharuddin has five.

*Tendulkar's has now taken his tally to 670 runs (avg 111.67) in six matches on Sri Lankan soil. This is the maximum runs scored by any visiting batsman in Sri Lanka.

* During his above innings Tendulkar also crossed his 3000th run in "away Test" matches. He was playing in his 41st match and has now scored 3097 runs.Gavaskar (5055 runs, 60 matches), Vengsarkar (3143 runs, 62 matches) and Mohinder Amarnath (3008 runs, 37 matches) were the only others to score more than 3000 runs in "away Test" matches for India. Just for the record , Allan Border has scored 5431 runs in 70 "away" matches for Australia - which is the existing record.

Complete scorecard