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Harbhajan emulates Kapil
Wisden CricInfo staff - March 2, 2002
When he smacked Heath Streak back over his head, Harbhajan Singh became the first Indian to win a Test with a six since Kapil Dev did it, off Phil Edmonds, against England at Lord's in 1986.
The 16 wickets in two Tests by Anil Kumble was the best by an Indian bowler in a series against Zimbabwe, beating the previous-best of 12 by Javagal Srinath during the last home series in 2000-01.
Rahul Dravid's match aggregate of seven runs (1 and 6) was the worst of his 55-match Test career.
Ray Price's 10 wickets in the series equals Heath Streak's tally as the most by a Zimbabwe bowler in a series against India.
This was India's fifth win over Zimbabwe in nine Test matches. However, this was the first time they had beaten them twice running.
This was Zimbabwe's fifth straight Test defeat – their worst-ever sequence. They had lost four in a row on two previous occasions.
India have now won five successive Tests at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi: v Zimbabwe in 1992-93 (by an innings & 13 runs), Australia in 1996-97 (7 wickets), Pakistan in 1998-99 (212 runs), Zimbabwe in 2000-01 (7 wickets) and now Zimbabwe again (4 wickets).
Andy Flower made his fifth Test duck, his first since bagging one against Australia at Harare way back in October 1999. Since then he has scored 2537 runs in 27 Tests at an average of 65.05. He now becomes the fourth Zimbabwean batsman to register a ninety and a duck in the same Test match, following Grant Flower, Murray Goodwin and Andy Blignaut.
Zimbabwe's 146 was their lowest total against India, previously 173 at Bulawayo in June 2001.
Harbhajan Singh claimed his first caught-and-bowled in his 22-Test career to dismiss Stuart Carlisle. It was his 91st Test wicket. By contrast, his spin partner Anil Kumble has 19 such dismissals, and is one short of Derek Underwood's Test record of 20. Australia's Geoff Lawson has taken most Test wickets without a caught-and-bowled – 180.
Harbhajan's 6 for 62 was the best by an Indian against Zimbabwe, beating Javagal Srinath's 5 for 60, also at Delhi, in 2000-01. Srinivas Venkataraghavan's 8 for 72 against New Zealand in 1964-65 remains the best by an offspinner here.
The 120-run stand between Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag partnership was the best for India against Zimbabwe for the fifth wicket. The previous-highest was 67, by Rahul Dravid and Ganguly at Harare in October 1998.
This was Ganguly's eighth Test hundred. His last century was way back in October 1999 against New Zealand at Ahmedabad. Since then, he has made only four half-centuries in 22 Tests and 39 innings, and has aggregated 912 runs at an average of 26.82.
It was also Ganguly's third hundred from No. 3. The first two were against England at Lord's and Trent Bridge in 1996 – in the first and second innings of his Test career.
Ganguly's century was his first as captain, in 18 Test matches in charge. His previous highest as captain was his unbeaten 98 against Sri Lanka at Kandy last August. The last Test hundred by an Indian captain was Sachin Tendulkar's 116 against Australia at Melbourne in December 1999.
Though much has been said about Ganguly's running between the wickets, he has been run out only once in his Test career - against Australia at Mumbai in March 2001. However, he has been involved in seven run-outs of his partners. Dravid tops that list – he's been on the receiving end three times.
Dion Ebrahim, who missed his maiden Test hundred by six runs, made his highest first-class score, surpassing his 90 for Mashonaland A in a domestic game last season.
For the second time, two Zimbabweans were out in 90s in the same innings. Andy Flower (92) and Ebrahim (94), today, were preceded by Craig Wishart (93) and Andy Blignaut (92) in the second innings of the Harare Test against West Indies last July.
It was the fifth time two batsmen were dismissed in their 90s against India. The earlier instances are: Raman Subba Row (94) & Mike Smith (98) for England at The Oval in August 1959; Alvin Kallicharran (98) & Deryck Murray (91) at the Wankhede Stadium in January 1975; Jonty Rhodes (91) & Brian McMcMillan (98) for South Africa at Johannesburg in November 1992 and Jacques Kallis (95) & Lance Klusener (97) at Bangalore in March 2000.
Anil Kumble set a new bowling high at Kotla. Tatenda Taibu was Kumble's 33rd Test wicket at this ground, bettering the previous high of 32 set by Kapil Dev. Kumble later increased his ground record to 34 Test wickets.
With 30 wickets each against their names, Javagal Srinath and Kumble shared the top spot for the highest number of wickets taken against Zimbabwe by an Indian bowler.
The combination of the Feroz Shah Kotla and Javagal Srinath isn't good news for Zimbabwe. When Srinath bowled Stuart Carlisle with the fourth ball of the match, Zimbabwe had lost a wicket without a run on the board for the second Test running at this ground. The only difference was that on November 18, 2000, it had taken Srinath three overs to castle Grant Flower.
When Harbhajan Singh had Andy Flower caught at forward short leg for 92, it was the first time he had been out in the nineties in a Test. He was out for 86 against Sri Lanka at Bulawayo in November 1999. But he is not the only Flower to be dismissed in the nineties at Delhi - brother Grant fell for 96 in March 1993.
Andy Flower's aggregate in Tests at Delhi now stands at 522 in three matches. Only Dilip Vengsarkar (671 runs in eight matches) and Sunil Gavaskar (668 in nine) have scored more at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
With Heath Streak's wicket, Anil Kumble equalled Kapil Dev's record of most wickets at this ground, with 32.
When he reached 72, Dion Ebrahim broke a jinx. He had managed to get out for 71 three times before - against West Indies at Bulawayo in July 2001, and against South Africa at Harare and Bulawayo in September 2001. His previous-highest score outside Zimbabwe was 41 against Bangladesh at Chittagong last November. Before this match Ebrahim had never scored a first-class century - 90 was his highest score.
Mohandas Menon is the leading cricket statistician in India.
© Wisden CricInfo Ltd
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