• It was the 1479th Test match in cricket history.

• It was 92nd match on this ground (India's 8th).

• Umpire David Shepherd was officiating in his 49th match. With this he has now surpassed fellow Englishman Frank Chester's tally of 48 matches as umpire.Now only Dickie Bird-another Englishman -has officiated in more matches than Shepherd - 66. The other umpire, Steve Davis, was standing in his third match.

• When Sachin Tendulkar put Australia into bat after winning the toss, he presented the 36th instance of an Indian captain inviting opposition to bat first. Out of these 36 Tests,India has won only one,lost 14 and drawn 21.Incidentally it was the fifth time when Tendulkar decided so.India suffered defeat on three occasions and drew 2.

• Hrishikesh Kanitkar was making his debut for India.He became 224th player to represent India in Test cricket. Hrishikesh also furnished the seventh instance of a son succeding his father in the Test cricket. His father, Hemant, had represented India in two Test matches in 1974-75.Other father-son combinations to play for India in Test cricket are :

  Lala and Surinder & Mohinder Amarnath, Vinoo and Ashok Mankad, Pankaj and Pranab Roy, Dattu and Anshuman Gaekwad , Vijay and Sanjay Manjrekar, Nawab of Pataudi Sr. and Nawab of Pataudi,Jr. In two other cases,father-son combination went on to represent two different countries :

  -S.Wazir Ali (India) and Khalid Wazir (Pakistan)

  -M.Jahangir Khan (India) and Majid Khan (Pakistan)

• Brett Lee was making his debut for Australia.He became 383rd player to represent Australia in Test cricket.By capturing a wicket off his fourth ball (victim : Sada- goppan Ramesh), Lee became the 13th Australian to get a wicket in first over in Test cricket.

• Michael Slater,when reached 43,completed his 1000 runs in the year 1999 in his 14th Test- first batsman to do so this year. Slater became 12th Australian ( on 15th occasion) to perform this feat.

• Slater became a victim of 'nervous ninety' for the 8th time in his career in his 58th Test - his third this year.Slater is now placed second alongwith WestIndies' Alvin Kallicharran among the batsmen with most scores in 'nineties'.Now only fellow Australian Steve Waugh (9) is ahead of him.

• Sachin Tendulkar became second batsman to complete 1000 runs in calendar year 1999 when his score reached 80 in the first innings. Tendulkar was playing 18th innings of his 10th Test this year.He became second batsman to perform this feat after Australia's Michael Slater. Tendulkar joins the company of six other batsmen who have done so on more than one occasion. Tendulkar had made exactly 1000 runs in 1997.Sunil Gavaskar tops the list with four such instances, while two Australians Allan Border and Mark Taylor (thrice each) and three Englishmen Ken Barrington,David Gower and Graham Gooch (twice each) are the other batsmen to do so on more than once.

• Tendulkar's hundred was his fifth against Australia, fifth this year,seventh as captain,13th away from home and 22nd of his career in his 73rd Test. Tendulkar has now surpassed Mohammad Azhruddin's tally of 21 hund- reds (from 98 matches). Now only Sunil Gavaskar (with world record 34 hundreds from 125 matches) has scored more Test hundreds than Tendulkar for India.

• It was Tendulkar's first hundred at Melbourne-his 13th on 12th centre abroad.With this he equalled England's Ken Barrington and WestIndies' Viv Richards' record of scoring hundreds on most centres abroad. Tendulkar has now scored hundreds on 18 centres in all-home or away. Only Sunil Gavaskar has scored hundreds on more cen- tres (19),while Barrington has also scored hundreds on 18 centres.

• Tendulkar, when reached 115, completed his 1000 runs against Australia.He became fourth Indian after Sunil Gavaskar (1550 runs in 20 Tests), Gundappa Viswanath (1538 in 18) and Dilip Vengsarkar (1304 in 24) and 62nd batsman in the world to aggregate 1000 Test runs against Australia.Tendulkar,by taking 11 Tests and 19 innings,became the fastest Indian to do so in least no. of Tests and innings.Gundappa Viswanath had taken 12 Tests and 20 innings to complete his 1000 runs against Australia.

• It was Tendulkar's seventh hundred in his 22nd Test as captain which means he has now scored a hundred in every 3.14 Tests as India's captain.Among the batsmen with five Test hundreds on their name as captain of their respective sides,only Don Bradman (14 hundreds in 24 Tests,TPH 1.71),Jackie McGlew (5 in 13,TPH 2.60) and Graham Gooch (11 in 34,TPH 3.04) have a better Test per hundred ratio than Tendulkar.

• It was Tendulkar's fifth hundred against Australia.He has now surpassed Gundappa Viswanath's tally.Now only Sunil Gavaskar (8) has scored more hundreds than him against Australia for India.

• Shane Lee became 13th Australian to capture a wicket in first over in Test cricket when he dismissed Sadagoppan Ramesh off his fourth ball.

• Lee became 27th Australian to capture a five - wicket innings haul on Test debut.

• The wicket of Kanitkar was Shane Warne's 350th in Test career. He became second Australian and only the tenth bowler in Test annals to reach this milestone.Warne is also the first spinner in this elite club joining the ranks of India's Kapil Dev (434 wickets in 131 Tests), NewZealand's Richard Hadlee (431-86),WestIndies' Cour- tney Walsh (426-112),Pakistan's Wasim Akram (383-91), England's Ian Botham (383-102), WestIndies' Malcolm Marshall (376-81),Curtly Ambrose (369-88), Pakistan's Imran Khan (362-88) and Australia's Dennis Lillee (355-70).

• Mark Waugh, by taking four catches in the field,equal- led existing Australian record of most catches in an innings by a fielder.Alan Davidson (at Delhi in 1959- 60) and Dave Whatmore (at Kanpur in 1979-80) are the other fielders to do so.

• The wicket of Blewett in second innings was Kumble's 100th on foreign soil (in his 29th Test).Kumble became fourth Indian to do so after Kapil Dev (215 wickets in 66 Tests), Bishan Singh Bedi (129 in 37) and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar (100 in 26).

• Sachin Tendulkar top scored in both innings of Test- second such instance for him.He had earlier top-scored in both innings of Nottingham Test against England with scores of 177 (out of a total of 521) and 76 (out of a total of 211).This feat has now been achieved by 18 Indians on 26 occasions. Tendulkar, infact, became only the fifth Indian to do so on more than one occa- sion after Sunil Gavaskar (only one in Test history to do so FIVE times),Polly Umrigar,Chandu Borde and Chandu Borde (twice each).

• Tendulkar also became third Indian to top score in both innings of a Test against Australia after M.L.Jaisimha (74 & 101 at Brisbane in 1967-68) and S.Abid Ali (78 & 81 at Sydney in 1967-68).

• Tendulkar also became only the second Indian captain to top-score in both innings of a Test after Nawab of Pataudi,junior (64 & 148 against England at Leeds in 1967).

• Mark Waugh, when dismissed Ajit Agarkar in second innings,completed his 50 wickets in his 99th Test. He became 57th Australian to do so.

• Ajit Agarkar became the 25th Indian to bag a pair in a Test on 32nd occasion.He also suffered the ultimate ignominy of getting a king pair (i.e.getting out to the first ball in either innings of a Test)- first Indian and seventh batsman in Test history to do so

• Australia has now won six matches in a row (starting from Harare Test against Zimbabwe).The last nine Test matches played in Australia have produced a result with Australia winning 8 and losing only one.

• Steve Waugh has now been a part of Australian team, which ended on winning note, on 53 occasions - a new Australian record. He was previously at level with Mark Taylor who has witnessed Australia's 52 Test victories as a player. The world record, however, is held by WestIndian Viv Richards whose 63 appearances (out of a total of 121) were for the victorious West- Indian side.

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