It was the 1559th Test match in cricket history

Rajneesh Gupta04-Sep-2001

• It was the 1559th Test match in cricket history.
• It was India’s 344th and Sri Lanka’s 114th match- 23rd between these
  two sides. The record now reads : Sri Lanka 3,India 8,drawn 12.

• It was the 54th Test match on Sri Lankan soil and 18th on this ground.
• Umpires Dave Orchard and Asoka de Silva were officiating in their
  24th and fifth match respectively.

• Thilan Samaraweera was making his Test debut for Sri Lanka. He
  became the 86th player to represent Sri Lanka in a Test match.

• Dulip Liyanage was making a comeback into Sri Lankan side after
  seven years and seven months. He last appeared in a Test against India
  at Lucknow in January 1994,missing 62 Tests in between. He now holds
  the Sri Lankan record of missing most matches in between two
  consecutive appearances beating left-arm spinner Don Anurasiri’s
  record of 27 Tests (between 1993-94 to 1997-98) quite comfortably.
  Liyanage now is jointly placed at 13th position in Test annals. The
  record remains with Pakistan’s Younis Ahmed who missed 104 matches in
  between 1969 and 1986-87. The details:

• Chaminda Vaas became the second Sri Lankan bowler after Muttiah
  Muralitharan (340 wickets in 65 matches) and 67th bowler in Test
  history to take 150 wickets when he had Mohammed Kaif caught behind by
  Kumara Sangakkara in first innings. He was playing his 51st Test
  match.

• Muttiah Muralitharan (8-87) became the first Sri Lankan and seventh
  bowler to take eight or more wickets in an innings against India. The
  previous best for Sri Lanka against India was 6 for 85 by Rumesh
  Ratnayake on this ground in 1985-86.

• Muralitharan’s figures were also the best by any bowler on Sri
  Lankan soil. Interestingly the previous best was 7 for 84 also by
  Muralitharan against South Africa at Galle in 2000-01.

• Muralitharan claimed 50 wickets in his 12th match against India when
  he dismissed Sadagopan Ramesh in second innings. He became the first
  Sri Lankan and 16th bowler to do so. Incidentally Pakistan’s Imran
  Khan with 94 wickets from 23 matches holds the record of capturing
  most wickets in a career against India.

• Marvan Atapattu (108),Mahela Jayawerdene (139),Hashan Tillakaratne
  (136*) and Thilan Samaraweera (103*) provided the eighth instance in
  Test cricket history where four or more batsmen made hundreds in the
  same innings. This was however the first such instance for Sri Lanka.
  Only twice before have Sri Lankan batsmen scored three hundreds in the
  same innings – against Australia at this same venue in August 1992 and
  against India at the Premadasa in August 1997. Only a day earlier five
  Pakistani batsmen had scored hundreds against Bangladesh at Multan
  which equalled the record held by Australia against the West Indies at
  Kingston in June 1955. India has now conceded four hundreds in same
  innings on four occasions. No other team has conceded so many more
  hundreds than once!

• The unbeaten partnership of 194 runs between Hashan Tillekeratne and
  debutant Thilan Samaraweera was Sri Lanka’s best for the seventh
  wicket in Tests. This oblitareted the previous best of 144 between
  Aravinda de Silva and Ravi Ratnayeke against Australia at Brisbane in
  1989-90. The partnership was also the highest ever by any team against
  India for this wicket bettering the previous best of 163 between New
  Zealand’s Bert Sutcliffe and Bruce Taylor at Calcutta in 1964-65.
  Incidentally the previous highest seventh wicket partnership for Sri
  Lanka against India was a paltry 77 between Ranjan Madugalle and
  Somachandra de Silva at Madras in 1982-83. This was also the highest
  unbeaten partnership for the seventh wicket in Test history.The
  previous highest such partnership was the 160 between India’s Sachin
  Tendulkar and Manoj Prabhakar against England at Manchester in 1990.
  Thilan Samaraweera (103*) became only the third Sri Lankan batsman to
  score a hundred on Test debut. The two others are Brendon Kuruppu
  (201*) against New Zealand at the Colombo Cricket Club ground in
  1986-87 and Romesh Kaluwitharana (132*) against Australia at the same
  ground in 1992-93. Samaraweera became the 71st batsman to score a
  hundred in his debut Test. Samaraweera became the first Sri Lankan to
  score a Test hundred at number eight.The previous highest was the 62
  by Ruwan Kalpage against Pakistan at Kandy in 1994-95. Sri Lanka’s
  total of 610-6 dec was its second highest in Tests after the world
  record 952-6 also against India at the Premadasa in August 1997.

• Rahul Dravid became the eighth Indian batsman and 70th batsman in
  all to aggregate 4000 runs in a Test career his 36-run knock. It was
  84th innings of his 48th Test match. The other Indian batsman to
  achieve this distinction are Sunil Gavaskar (10122 runs in 125 Tests),
  Sachin Tendulkar (6919 runs in 84 Tests), Dilip Vengsarkar (6868 runs
  in 116 Tests), Mohammed Azharuddin (6215 runs in 99 Tests), Gundappa
  Viswanath (6080 runs in 91 Tests), Kapil Dev (5248 runs in 131 Tests)
  and Mohinder Amarnath (4378 runs in 69 Tests). Among the Indians only
  Sunil Gavaskar has reached this target in lesser matches and innings
  (43 and 81 respectively).

• Muralitharan’s match figures of 11 for 196 were the best by a Sri
  Lankan against India. The previous record was in the name of Rumesh
  Ratnayake who took nine wickets for 125 runs at the same ground in
  1985-86.

• It was the sixth occasion when Muralithran took ten or more wickets
  in a match. Among the spinners only Australia’s Clarrie Grimmett has
  more ten wicket hauls – seven to his name. The Test record of most
  ten-wicket hauls (irrespective of type of bowler) is held by New
  Zealander Richard Hadlee with nine such instances.

• Muralitharan’s 11-196 was the third best match performance by a
  spinner against India after the 11-105 by Australian right-arm leg
  spinner Richie Benaud at Kolkata in 1956-57 and the 11-153 by the
  English left-arm spinner Hedley Verity at Chennai in 1933-34. However
  Murali’s performance was the best by a spinner in a Test match against
  India on foreign soil bettering the 9-63 by West Indian off-spinner
  Lance Gibbs at Bridgetown in 1961-62. Muralitharan’s 23 wickets in the
  series is the best performance by a Sri Lankan bowler against India.
  The previous highest was the 20 wickets by Rumesh Ratnayake during
  the three match series in 1985-86 in Sri Lanka.

• The last wicket partnership of 30 runs between Zaheer Khan and
  Venkatesh Prasad was India’s best against Sri Lanka obliterating the
  previous best of 29 between Kapil Dev and Chetan Sharma at the Colombo
  Saravanamuttu Stadium in 1985-86. Shiv Sundar Das (59 & 68) became
  19th Indian to top score in each innings of a Test. He also provided
  the 28th such instance for India. The victory by an innings and 77
  runs equalled Sri Lanka’s best in Tests. The team had beaten Zimbabwe
  by an identical margin at the Premadasa Stadium, Colombo in September
  1996. Sri Lanka now has innings victories on five occasions – against
  Zimbabwe, New Zealand, South Africa, England and India. The following
  table lists the best wins for each Test playing nation by innings
  margin :

• The defeat was India’s 33rd by an innings margin in Tests and its
  first against Sri Lanka. It was India’s 73rd defeat on foreign soil in
  162 matches and its third on Sri Lankan soil. Muralitharan was
  nominated the Man-of-the-Match award for the seventh time in his
  career. Among the Sri Lankans only Aravinda de Silva has won more
  awards (11) than him. It was Sri Lanka’s second series win against
  India after its first in 1985-86 at home. It was Ganguly first Test
  series loss as captain.