It was the 1465th Test in cricket history.
It was India's 328th and NewZealand's 274th Test match.
It was the 40th between the two sides. The record now reads: India 14, New Zealand 7, drawn 19.
It was the fifth Test on this ground (first for New Zealand).
Umpires Rudi Koertzen and VK Ramaswamy were officiating in their 15th and 26th Test respectively.
Sachin Tendulkar was playing his 12th Test against New Zealand. With this he equalled Mohammad Azharuddin and Bishen Singh Bedi's tally of most Tests for India against New Zealand.
Sadagopan Ramesh scored his second century in his 7th Test. (His only other century came against Sri Lanka at Colombo's SSC in February this year when he scored 143).
Sachin Tendulkar scored his maiden double Test hundred in his 71st match (110th innings). He became the 12th Indian ( and 18th occasion) to score a double Test hundred.
Tendulkar during his 217 created many records. They are listed as under:
He surpassed his previous best against New Zealand. The previous best being 126* at Mohali in the first Test of this series.
He surpassed the highest by any batsman at this ground. The previous best being 152 by Md Azharuddin v Sri Lanka in 1993-94.
He surpassed his previous highest score in Tests. The previous best being 179 against West Indies at Nagpur in 1994-95.
He surpassed his previous highest in first class cricket.The previous best being 204* against Australians at Mumbai in 1997-98.
He surpassed the highest by any Indian captain. The previous best previous best 205* by Sunil Gavaskar against West Indies at Mumbai in 1978-79.
Tendulkar has now become the second highest scorer of hundreds for India along with Mohammad Azharuddin with 21 hundreds. Only Sunil Gavsakar with a record 34 hundreds has scored more for India. Interestingly Tendulkar has now scored a hundred every 3.4 Tests - the best average among Indian batsmen who have scored 10 or more hundreds. The details :Tests100sTests for each 100
SM Gavaskar 125 34 3.68 SR Tendulkar 71 21 3.38 M Azharuddin 98 21 4.66 DB Vengsarkar 116 17 6.82 GR Viswanath 91 14 6.50 PR Umrigar 59 12 4.92 M Amarnath 69 11 6.27 RJ Shasti 80 11 7.27It was Tendulkar's third century against New Zealand. With this he equlled Vijay Manjrekar's record of scoring most centuries against New Zealand for India.
Tendulkar has now scored hundreds on 17 different grounds. With this he has equalled West Indian Viv Richards' record. Now only India's Sunil Gavaskar (19) and England's Ken Barrington (18) have scored hundreds on more grounds than Tendulkar. The details of batsmen scoring hundreds on most grounds is given in the accompanying table :GroundsTotal100s1934SM Gavaskar (Ind)- Georgetown, Bridgetown, Port-of-Spain, Manchester, Auckland, Mumbai, Perth, Melbourne, Karachi, Calcutta, Delhi, The Oval, Chennai and Bangalore.
18 20 KF Barrington (Eng)- Bridgetown, Port-of-Spain, Lahore, Mumbai, Kanpur, Delhi, Adelaide, Sydney, Auckland, Manchester, Durban, Johannesburg, Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham and The Oval.17 21 SR Tendulkar (Ind)- Manchester, Sydney, Perth, Johannesburg, Chennai, Colombo SSC, Lucknow, Nagpur, Birmingham, Nottingham, Cape Town, Colombo RP, Mumbai, Bangalore, Wellington, Mohali and Ahmedabad.
17 24 IVA Richards (WI)- Delhi, Adelaide, Bridgetown, Port-of-Spain, Nottingham, Manchester, The Oval, Brisbane, Lord's, Multan, St.John's, Georgetown, Mumbai, Birmingham, Melbourne, Perth and Kingston
15 21 M Azharuddin (Ind)- Calcutta, Chennai, Kanpur, Jaipur, Faisalabad, Auckland, Lord's, Manchester, Adelaide, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Cape Town, Colombo RP, Colombo SSC and Wellington.
15 27 AR Border (Aus)- Melbourne, Chennai, Perth, Lahore, Manchester, The Oval, Adelaide, Brisbane, Port-of-Spain, Lord's, Christchurch, Faisalabad, Moratuwa, Leeds and Hobart.
India's total (583-7d) is its highest against New Zealand - home or away. The previous highest was 537-3d at Chennai in 1955-56.
It was also the highest by any side on this ground. The previous best was Pakistan's 395 in 1986-87.
The 281 runs partnership between Tendulkar and Ganguly is India's all time record for fourth wicket against all countries. This obliterates the previous record stand of 256 between this same pair against Sri Lanka at Mumbai in 1997-98. Incidentally the previous record fourth wicket stand for India against New Zealand was 171 runs between Polly Umrigar and AG Kripal Singh at Hyderabad in 1955-56.
This partership is also the second highest for India for any wicket against New Zealand after the world record 413 runs stand between Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy at Chennai in 1955-56.
Three batsmen S Ramesh (110), SR Tendulkar (217) and SC Ganguly (125) scored hundreds in India's first innings. It was the ninth instance when three hundreds were scored for India in a Test innings. Incidentally the last occasion when three Indian batsmen hundreds in one Test innings was against Sri Lanka at Colombo RP in 1996-97.
Anil Kumble, on 5, completed his 1000 runs in 56th Test (71st innings). He became the 43rd Indian and 350th batsman to aggregate 1000 runs in a Test career.
With this Kumble also completed the all round double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in a career. He became the fourth Indian and 34th allrounder to do so. Other Indians to complete the double are : Kapil Dev (5248 runs and 434 wickets in 131 Tests), Vinoo Mankad (2109 and 162 in 44) and Ravi Shastri (3830 and 151 in 80). Only Australia's Shane Warne (58), Pakistan's Abdul Qadir (62), and West Indies' Curtly Ambrose (69) have taken more Tests than Kumble to accomplish this feat.
Daniel Vettori achieved the dubious distinction of conceding 200 runs in 57 overs during India's first innings. He became the second New Zealander and 16th bowler (on 17th occasions) to concede 200 or more runs in an innings.
India's Vinoo Mankad is the only one to concede 200 runs on two occasions. The details :OMRW87112981L.O'B.Fleetwood-SmithAusEngThe Oval19387882761R.K.ChauhanIndSLColombo RP 1996-9780.2132665O.C.ScottWIEngKingston1929-305452590Khan MohammadPakWIKingston1957-5885.2202472Fazal MahmoodPakWIKingston1957-5870102291S.L.BoockNZPakAuckland1988-8982172285M.H.MankadIndWIKingston1952-5364.282266B.S.BediIndEngLord's19745432242M.MuralitharanSLAusPerth1995-967272231A.KumbleIndSLColombo RP 1996-9738.432207Kapil DevIndPakFaisalabad 1982-835272173I.T.BothamEngPakThe Oval198769122125P.A.StrangZimPakSheikhupur 1996-977182046I.A.R.PeeblesEngAusThe Oval193075162023M.H.MankadIndWIMumbai1948-4984192026Haseeb AhsanPakIndChennai1960-615752004D.L.VettoriNZIndAhmedabad1999-00
Incidentally it was the seventh instance when Vettori conceded 100 or more runs in an innings.
Sachin Tendulkar's match aggregate of 232 (217+15) runs is second highest by an Indian batsman against New Zealand. The record is held by Rahul Dravid who aggregated 293 runs (190+103*) at Hamilton in 1998-99. Tendulkar's aggregate is however the highest for India in India against New Zealand obliterating Vinoo Mankad's 231 at Chennai in 1955-56.
Tendulkar has now scored 891 runs in 12 Tests and 19 innings (ave.63.64) against New Zealandthe most by an Indian. The previous record was held by Mohammad Azharuddin with a tally of 796 runs (@ 61.23) in 12 Tests (14 innings).
Tendulkar has now taken his tally of runs in 1999 to 859 in only 8 Tests (ave.71.58- most by any batsman this year.
Saurav Ganguly followed his first innings hundred with a fifty in the second innings. He became the third Indian to score a century and a fifty in the same Test against New Zealand after Gundappa Viswanath (68 & 103*,Kanpur,1976-77) and Rahul Dravid (190 & 103*,Hamilton,1998-99). Ganguly also became the 19th Indian (on 35th occasion) todo so in all Tests (Sunil Gavaskar leads the table with six such instances followed by Sachin Tendulkar 4).
Kumble captured five wickets in an innings for the 15th time in his career. He became the third Indian after Kapil Dev (23 five wicket hauls in 131 matches) and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar (16 five wicket hauls in 58 matches) and 26th bowler to take 15 or more five wicket hauls.
Anil Kumble,at the end of this match,has taken 49 wickets in 8 Testsmost by any bowler this year.
India declared both its inningsseventh such instance for India. The others being : v England,Chennai,1963-64, v New Zealand, Kanpur,1976-77, v England, Chennai,1981-82, v England, Kanpur,1984-85, v New Zealand, Bangalore, 1988-89 and v West Indies, Nagpur, 1994-95. Interestingly on all but one occasion (1988-89) the matches were drawn.
The partnership of 131 runs between Matt Horne and Gary Stead (second innings) is best for New Zealand for the opening wicket on Indian soil. The previous best partnership was of 106 runs between GT Dowling and BAG Murray at Hyderabad in 1969-70.
At the end of the series :
India's overall Test record : played 328, won 61, lost 107, tied 1 and drawn 159.New Zealand's overall Test record : played 274, won 42, lost 111 and drawn 121.
Sachin Tendulkar's captaincy record : played 20, won 4, lost 4, drawn 12. Stephen Fleming's captaincy record : played 22, won 8, lost 7 and drawn 7.