• Saeed Anwar was playing in his 50th match against India. He becomes the third Pakistani after Ijaz Ahmed (53) and Salim Malik (52) to do so.
• Saeed Anwar (101) posted his 20th hundred of his career. Anwar had last scored a hundred against New Zealand at Nairobi in October 2000 when he made 104 in the ICC Trophy. Since then he has appeared in 34 matches and as many innings without ever reaching three figure mark.
• During his innings, Saeed Anwar completed his 2000 runs against India – first batsman to do so against India. Saeed meanwhile, provided the eighth instance of a batsman aggregating 2000-plus runs against one particular team. West Indian Desmond Haynes with 2390 runs against Pakistan, holds the world record of most runs in a career against a particular country.
• Saeed Anwar also has 2197 runs against Sri Lanka. He is only the second batsman in ODI history to aggregate 2000 runs against two teams. West Indian Desmond Haynes is the other batsman to aggregate 2000-plus run against two teams - 2390 (v Pakistan) and 2262 (v Australia).
• This was his fourth hundred against India, as he joins three others - Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya, South African Gary Kirsten and New Zealand’s Nathan Astle - who have maximum three figure scores against India.
• This was his third hundred in the World Cup in 20 matches. He equals the tally of Rameez Raja for the most hundreds for Pakistan in the World Cup. Interestingly, Saeed has the distinction of scoring the last three hundreds for his team in the World Cup.
• Anwar’s innings is the highest for Pakistan against India in World Cup. The previous highest individual score made by a Pakistani batsman against India in the World Cup was the 62 by Aamer Sohail at Sydney in 1992.
• 50 runs of Indian innings came in just 4.5 overs – the fastest for India in ODIs and fifth fastest in all ODIs. Sri Lanka raced to their fifty off just 3.2 overs against Kenya at Kandy in 1996 World Cup !!
• 100 runs of Indian innings came in just 11.1 overs – the second fastest for India in ODIs. India had taken 11.0 overs to complete their 100 runs against Bangladesh at Colombo SSC in 1997.
• Shoaib Akhtar, who had targeted Tendulkar for some special stuff before the match, was chosen for some special treatment by the little master and was hit for three consecutive boundaries – a six and two fours. He conceded 18 runs in his first over (second of the innings) and was removed from the attack.
• Playing in his 309th match and 300th innings, Sachin Tendulkar (when on 83) reached his 12,000th run of his career. He thus became the first batsman in international cricket history to reach this landmark. Australian Allan Border has the maximum 11,174 runs in Tests! Former Indian batsman Mohammad Azharuddin still occupies the second position in ODIs with 9378 runs - 2637 runs behind Tendulkar’s 12015 runs!!
• Tendulkar’ 98 was his second score in the nineties in the World Cup. He had made an exact 90 against Australia at Mumbai in 1996. He becomes the fourth batsman in World Cup with two scores in the nineties after Pakistani Zaheer Abbas (in 1975 and 1979), New Zealander Martin Crowe (in 1983 and 1992) and West Indian Richie Richardson (in 1987 and 1996).
• Tendulkar’s 98 was also the highest score made in the nineties by any batsman in the World Cup. Kiwi Martin Crowe (v England at the Oval in 1983) and fellow Indian Sourav Ganguly (v South Africa at Hove in 1999) had made 97 each.
• Though Tendulkar missed his 35th ODI century of his career, this was his seventh score in the nineties. He joins three other players (Indian Mohammad Azharuddin, New Zealand Nathan Astle and Zimbabwean Grant Flower) in the number two position in ODIs with most scores in the nineties. Sri Lankan Aravinda deSilva with eight such scores holds the record. Incidentally both deSilva and Tendulkar have three scores in the nineties - the most against Pakistan.
• Tendulkar’s sequence of scores in this World Cup read as : 52 (v Holland), 36 (v Australia), 81 (v Zimbabwe), 152 (v Namibia), 50 (v England)…. and now 98 against Pakistan. Tendulkar has now equalled the record of four consecutive fifties in World Cup.
• At the end of this match, Tendulkar has aggregated 1528 runs in 28 World Cup matches. He became first batsman to score more than 1500 runs in World Cup cricket.
• The fifty was Tendulkar’s 60th of his career. Now only Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq (64) and Sri Lanka’s Aravinda deSilva (62) have more fifties to their credit.
• The total of 276-4 was the highest made by India to win a match while batting second in the World Cup. The previous highest was the 224-1 in 32.1 overs against New Zealand at Nagpur in 1987.
• The unbeaten partnership of 99 runs between Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh for the fifth wicket was the second such partnership in ODIs for any wicket. Sri Lankans Aravinda deSilva and Hashan Tillekeratne had also put on an unbeaten 99 for the fifth wicket against Zimbabwe at Colombo SSC in 1996.
• India has now played Pakistan four times in World Cup and have won on all the four occasions.
• Taufiq Umar kept wickets through out the Indian innings in place of regular ‘keeper Rashid Latif.
• The win was Ganguly’s 50th as Indian captain. He was leading the side for the 95th time. Ganguly became second Indian (after Mohammad Azharuddin) and 13th player overall to have led his side to 50 wins in ODIs.
• Shoaib Akhtar (10-0-72-1) achieved his worst figures ever in ODIs. He had conceded 67 runs off his 9.1 overs against New Zealand at Dunedin in 2001.
• Shoaib Akhtar, by conceding 72 runs in his 10 overs, achieved the dubious distinction of most uneconomical figures by a Pakistani in a World Cup match. Sarfraz Nawaz had conceded 71 runs against West Indies at the Oval in 1979 World Cup but he had bowled 12 overs.
• Interestingly the worst bowling performances for Pakistan in World Cup have come against India. Apart from Sarfraz Nawaz (in 1979), the five most expensive spells for Pakistan have come against India. Waqar Younis conceded 71 runs in this match. Waqar Younis and Aaqib Javed in 1996 and Saqlain Mushtaq in 1999 had conceded 67 runs off their 10 overs.

(Article: Copyright © 2003 Rajneesh Gupta)