• This Test was India’s 372nd and Pakistan’s 300th Test overall. Pakistan became sixth country after England (818), Australia (651), West Indies (407), India (372) and New Zealand (310) to play 300 Tests.
• This Test was the 48th between the two sides and 21st on Pakistan soil.
• Rahul Dravid was captaining India for the second time in his career. His only other captaincy assignment was against New Zealand at Mohali in October 2003. Interestingly on that occasion too, Dravid led the Indian side in place of injured Sourav Ganguly.
• The 160-run partnership between Virender Sehwag and Akash Chopra is India’s second best stand against Pakistan in Pakistan for the first wicket - the best being 192 between Sunil Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan at Lahore in 1978-79.
• This was the fourth century partnership for the opening wicket between Chopra and Sehwag in just 7 Tests (and 13 innings). The pair thus equalled the tally of century stands between Sunil Gavaskar and Anshuman Gaekwad for the opening wicket for India. Now only one pair-Gavaskar & Chetan Chauhan- is ahead of this pair for India with 10 century stands.
• Sehwag and Chopra became the first Indian pair to be associated in a century stand for the first wicket in three consecutive AWAY Tests. They had put on 141 at Melbourne, 123 at Sydney and now 160 at Multan.
• Sehwag’s 228 on the first day of the Test are the maximum runs scored by an Indian in a single day’s play in Test cricket. Interestingly it was also Sehwag who held the previous record for India. He had made 195 on the opening day of Melbourne Test in December 2003. In fact there have been only six better performances than Sehwag’s effort in all Test matches.The world record is on the name of Don Bradman who remains the ONLY batsman to score 300 runs in one day.
• Sehwag completed his hundred with a six (off Shoaib Akhtar). He became sixth Indian to do so after Polly Umrigar, Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azharuddin and Rahul Dravid. Incidentally Tendulkar has reached three-figure mark on as many as four occasions.
• Sehwag raced to his double century off 222 balls - fastest double century by an Indian in terms of balls faced and the fifth fastest in Test Cricket on record. Only New Zealander Nathan Astle (153), South African Herschelle Gibbs (211), Australia’s Adam Gilchrist (212) and England’s Ian Botham (220) have scored double hundreds off lesser balls than Sehwag.
• Sehwag's double hundred is also the fastest in terms of balls on Pakistan soil. The previous record was held by Pakistan's Zaheer Abbas, who had raced to his double hundred off 241 balls against India at Lahore in 1982-83.
• India's total of 356 for two is the highest on the first day of a Test on Pakistan soil, bettering Pakistan's 355 against New Zealand at Lahore in 2001-02. This is also their highest against Pakistan in a day's play, eclipsing the 334 scored by them on the first day of the Faisalabad Test in 1982-83.
• Sehwag (309) became first Indian and only the 17th batsman in Test cricket history to score a triple ton. Sehwag surpassed VVS Laxman’s 281 (v Australia, Calcutta, 2000-01), which was the previous highest innings by an Indian player in Test cricket. Incidentally the previous highest individual innings for India on foreign soil was Sachin Tendulkar's 241 not out against Australia at Sydney in January this year.
• Sehwag's innings is now the highest individual innings for India against Pakistan, bettering Sanjay Manjrekar's 218 at Lahore in 1989-90.
• Sehwag's innings is now the second best against Pakistan on Pakistan soil, next to Mark Taylor's 334 not out for Australia at Peshawar in 1998-99.
• Sehwag reached his triple century off 364 balls - the third fastest triple century in terms of balls faced after England’s Wally Hammond and Australia’s Matthew Hayden. Hayden’s triple hundred came off 362 balls during his world record 380 v Zimbabwe at Perth in October 2003. Authentic information is not available about the balls taken by Wally Hammond to complete his triple hundred against New Zealand at Auckland in 1932-33, but it is estimated that he took near about 355 balls to do so.
• Sehwag completed his triple hundred with a six (off Saqlain Mushtaq). He became first batsman in the history of Test cricket to complete the triple century by hitting a six.
• Sehwag scored 192 of his runs in boundaries alone- 39 fours and six sixes. This is easily the best effort by an Indian and the fifth best in entire Test history. The previous Indian record of most runs in boundaries was on the name of VVS Laxman who scored 176 runs in boundaries (44 fours) during his innings of 281 against Australia at Calcutta in 2000-01.
• Sehwag became only the third Indian batsman to hit six sixes in an innings after Navjot Singh Sidhu (8 v Sri Lanka, Lucknow, 1993-94) and Ravi Shastri (6 v Australia, Bombay, 1986-87). Sehwag also became the first Indian to hit five sixes in an innings on two separate occasions. He had also hit five sixes during his 195 against Australia at Melbourne in December last year.
• The six sixes by Sehwag are the maximum hit by a batsman in an innings against Pakistan equalling South African Herschelle Gibbs’ tally at Cape Town in 2002-03.
• Sehwag has now taken his career tally of sixes to 25 in 21 Tests (and 34 innings). He became only the sixth Indian to hit 25 or sixes in a career after Kapil Dev (61), Sourav Ganguly (41), Navjot Singh Sidhu (38), Sachin Tendulkar (38) and Sunil Gavaskar (26).
• With just one innings, Sehwag has taken his career average from 45.84 to 53.58. He now enjoys the fourth highest batting average among the Indians with 1,000 or more career runs after Sachin Tendulkar (58.38), Rahul Dravid (56.97) and Vinod Kambli (54.20) and ahead of Sunil Gavaskar (51.12).
• Sehwag and Tendulkar aggregated 503 runs in one innings – a new record for India. The previous highest aggregate by two batsmen in one innings for India was 461 between VVS Laxman (281) and Rahul Dravid (180) v Australia at Calcutta in 2000-01. Incidentally the world record in this category is held by West Indian Conrad Hunte (260) and Gary Sobers (365*) as they aggregated 625 runs against Pakistan at Kingston in 1957-58.
• The third wicket partnership of 336 runs between Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar is the highest partnership for India against Pakistan for any wicket. The pair surpassed the 200 run-partnership for the fifth wicket between Sandeep.Patil and Ravi Shastri at Faisalabad in 1984-85 and also for the first wicket between Sunil Gavaskar and Krish.Srikkanth at Madras in 1986-87. Incidentally the previous highest third wicket partnership for India against Pakistan was 190 between Yashpal Sharma and Mohinder Amarnath at Lahore in 1982-83.
• The above partnership is also the highest ever for third wicket for India in Test cricket. The pair supplanted the 316 run-partnership between Gundappa Viswanath and Yashpal Sharma against England at Madras in 1982-83.
• Sehwag - Tendulkar partnership is now the best ever for the third wicket (and third highest for any wicket) against Pakistan in Test Cricket, eclipsing the previous best of 267 between Englishmen Graham Thorpe and Michael Vaughan at Manchester in 2001.
• This partnership is also the best ever by any side for any wicket against Pakistan on Pakistan soil, obliterating the 192 run-partnership between Ken Barrington and Mike.Smith for England at Lahore in 1961-62.
• This was second time in successive Tests that Tendulkar got involved in triple century partnerships. He had added 353 runs for the fourth wicket with VVS Laxman at Sydney in January this year. Tendulkar thus became only the fourth player in Test cricket history to achieve this unusual distinction. Australia’s Bill Ponsford and Don Bradman were involved in 388 and 451 run-partnerships against England at Leeds and the Oval in 1934 for the fourth and second wicket respectively. England’s David Gower added 331 runs with Tim Robinson at Birmingham and 351 runs with Graham Gooch at the Oval – both times for second wicket – in 1985 series.
• This partnership is the 14th double century partnership involving Tendulkar. With this Tendulkar has now equalled Australia’s Don Bradman’s world record of participating in most double century partnerships in Test cricket. Tendulkar is way ahead of Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid, who occupy the second place among the Indians with six double century partnerships apiece.
• Tendulkar (194 not out) scored his highest score against Pakistan, surpassing his 136 at Madras in 1998-99. Interestingly Tendulkar’s previous highest on Pakistan soil was a paltry 59 at Faisalabad in 1989-90.
• Tendulkar became only second batsman to be left stranded in 190s due to declaration by his captain. West Indian Frank Worrell is the only other to suffer this fate, when his captain Gerry Alexander declared the innings against England at Bridgetown in 1959-60 with Worrell only three away from his double hundred.
• The century was 33rd of Tendulkar's career. With this he moved ahead of Australia’s Steve Waugh who has 32 Test hundreds on his name. Now only Sunil Gavaskar (34) has scored more Test tons than Tendulkar.
• The century was 18th for Tendulkar on foreign soil. He thus equalled Sunil Gavaskar's record of 18 centuries overseas.
• Tendulkar has now taken his overseas tally to 5194 (ave.55.85) in 65 Tests, surpassing Sunil Gavaskar's overseas aggregate of 5055 (ave.52.11) in 60 Tests.
• India’s total of 675 for five declared is their highest against Pakistan –home or away- surpassing their 539 for 9 declared at Madras in 1960-61. Incidentally India's previous highest in Pakistan was 509 at Lahore in 1989-90.
• The above total is also India’s third highest total in Test cricket after 705 for 7 declared v Australia at Sydney in January this year and 676 for 7 v Sri Lanka at Kanpur in 1986-87.
• India's total is the second highest against Pakistan in Test cricket after West Indies’ 790 for 3 declared at Kingston in 1957-58. This is also the highest ever total made on Pakistan soil bettering Pakistan’s 699 for five at Lahore in 1989-90 against India. Incidentally the previous highest total against Pakistan in Pakistan was 617 by Australia at Faisalabad in 1979-80.
• India have now scored 600-plus totals in two successive Tests. They had also piled up 705 for 7 declared against Australia at Sydney in January this year. India thus provided only the fourth instance in Test cricket history of a side scoring 600-plus total in an innings in two successive Tests. Australia and West Indies are the only other teams to perform this feat. Australia, in fact, did so on two occasions.
• Saqlain Mushtaq (43-4-204-1) became first Pakistani bowler to concede 200 runs in an innings in Pakistan. Interestingly Saqlain ‘bettered’ his own record. He had conceded 164 runs (while picking up 8 wickets) against England at Lahore in 2000-01.
• Saqlain became the first bowler from Pakistan to concede over 200 runs in an innings twice. Against South Africa at Cape Town in 2003-04, he had conceded 237 runs and claimed three wickets.
• The wicket of Yasir Hameed in the first innings was 100th first class wicket for Irfan Pathan in his 34th match.
• Pakistan made 322 runs in third day’s play, which is their second best total in a day's play against India. Pakistan had made 339 for the loss of three wickets on the third day of the Faisalabad Test in 1982-83.
• India enforced the follow-on over Pakistan in Pakistan for the first time. Overall, this was the third instance of India enforcing the follow-on over Pakistan. The other two occasions came at Delhi in October 1952 (India won by an innings and 70 runs) and in February 1961 (match was drawn).
• The wicket of Imran Farhat in second innings was 150th for Anil Kumble on foreign soil in 41st Test. He became only the second Indian after Kapil Dev (215 wickets in 66 Tests) to do so.
• The duck in second innings was Inzamam-ul-Haq's first against India and his 11th in Tests. Interestingly, it was only the third occasion that Inzamam was getting run-out in Test cricket.
• Yousuf Youhana (112) scored his first Test hundred against India, bettering his previous best of 56 at Calcutta in 1998-99.
• The ninth wicket partnership of 70 runs between Yousuf Youhana and Shoaib Akhtar is Pakistan's best for this wicket against India, surpassing the 60 between Wasim Bari and Iqbal Qasim at Bangalore in 1979-80.
• Anil Kumble (6-72) has now captured 5 or more wickets in an innings in four consecutive Tests- 5 for 154 at Adelaide, 6 for 176 at Melbourne, 8 for 141 at Sydney and now 6 for 72 at Multan. He has also taken three five-wicket innings hauls against Pakistan in last four Tests.
• Kumble has now taken five wicket innings hauls on 24 occasions – a new Indian record. He moved ahead of Kapil Dev who had 23 five-wicket innings hauls on his name.
• The victory by an innings and 52 runs is India’s first in Pakistan in 21 Tests and only the 20th in 180 Tests overseas. It is also India’s biggest ever win away from home. India had beaten England by an innings and 46 runs at Leeds in 2002.
• The defeat was Pakistan's fourth by innings margin at home soil. Pakistan lost to West Indies by innings margin twice in Pakistan - at Lahore in 1958-59 (by an innings and 156 runs) and at Lahore in 1986-87 (by an innings and 10 runs). Australia defeated Pakistan by an innings and 99 runs at Rawalpindi in 1998-99.

(Article: Copyright © 2004 Rajneesh Gupta)