Stats highlights from the tenth ODI of the CB Series, between Australia and India.
Ricky Ponting's 124 would have come as a relief. In his six previous matches in the series, he had scored only 64 runs. During the course of his innings, Ponting became the fifth batsman to go past 11,000 ODI runs, joining Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Sourav Ganguly.
Matthew Hayden, another batsmen struggling in this series, scored a brisk 54, and was involved in a century stand with Ponting. It was their tenth partnership of a 100-plus for the second wicket, the first time a pair has done so in ODIs. The duo's average of 53.92 per partnership is the highest among pairs with at least 3000 runs.
With his 124, Ricky Ponting overtook Sanath Jayasuriya as the second-highest centurion in ODIs. Ponting has 26 hundreds while Sachin Tendulkar leads the list with 41 ODI centuries.
Adam Gilchrist's wicketkeeping has come under scrutiny in recent months, but he pouched six dismissals in India's innings. Only ten times have wicketkeepers bagged six dismissals in an innings, of which Gilchrist has a phenomenal six.
Brett Lee's 5 for 58 was his eight five-wicket haul in ODIs. He's now second on the list of bowlers with most five-wicket hauls, equal with Muttiah Muralitharan. However, Lee has played 138 matches less than Muralitharan, and is perhaps the likely candidate to challenge Waqar Younis' record of 13. Playing against India might help; he has four five-fors against them, and averages 19.08 against them.
Australia's 7 for 317 was the tenth time they had posted a score of 300-plus against India, becoming the only team to post 300 or more on ten or more occasions against two countries - they have made over 300 in 11 matches against New Zealand. Australia haven't lost a game against India in which they had scored over 300.
Irfan Pathan finished with figures of 0 for 73, only the second time that he's conceded more than 70 runs in an ODI innings. Coincidentally, the earlier occasion was also against Australia, and in Sydney.