This match was the 2095th Limited Overs International in cricket history.
Rahul Dravid was captaining India in the absence of Sourav Ganguly. This match was Dravid's tenth as India's captain. He had last captained India against Australia in the TVS Cup final at Kolkata on 18-11-2003.
Amit Bhandari made a comeback into Indian side after about 44 months. He had last played for India against Pakistan at Dhaka on 03-06-2000, which was incidentally his debut match. Bhandari thus returned to the side after missing 108 matches in between his two appearances. The other Indians to have a gap of more than 100 matches in between two successive matches are Sairaj Bahutule (196), Ashish Kapoor (157), Robin Singh (146) and Harvinder Singh (110).
The catch of Vusi Sibanda was VVS Laxman's ninth in this VB Series - a new Indian record for a fielder in a tournament. Mohammad Azharuddin (1985-86 World Series Cup), Anil Kumble (1995-96 World Cup), Virender Sehwag and Dinesh Mongia (2002-03 World Cup) jointly held the previous Indian record with eight catches each.
Both Zimbabweans openers Vusi Sibanda and Tatenda Taibu- were dismissed without scoring. This provided the 19th such instance in LOIs. It was also the third such instance against India. Sri Lankans Sanath Jayasuriya and Avishka Gunawardene at Sharjah on 09-11-1998 and West Indians Sherwin Campbell and Ridley Jacobs at Toronto on 14-09-1999 had achieved this dubious distinction against India.
Irfan Pathan became the fourth Indian to take two wickets in the first over of a Limited Overs Innings by dismissing Sibanda and Taibu. The others to do so for India are : Manoj Prabhakar (v Pakistan at Karachi on 20-12-1989), Javagal Srinath (v Sri Lanka at Calcutta on 13-03-1996) and Zaheer Khan (v New Zealand at Centurion on 14-03-2003).
Dion Ebrahim (7) completed 1000 runs in LOIs when his score reached 2. He was playing his 59th match and 53rd innings. Ebrahim became the 12th Zimbabwean and the 184th batsman in the world to do so.
Zimbabwe's total of 135 is their joint second lowest against India. Zimbabwe's lowest ever total against India still remains 133 at Harare on 24-06-2001. They had also made 135 at Wankhede in Mumbai on 17-10-1987.
The catch of Ray Price was fourth for Laxman in the Zimbabwean innings. He joined five other Indians- Sunil Gavaskar (v Pakistan,Sharjah,22-03-1985), Mohammad Azharuddin (v Pakistan, Sharjah,13-09-1997), Sachin Tendulkar (v Pakistan,Dhaka,11-01-1998), Rahul Dravid (v West Indies, Toronto,14-09-1999) and Mohammad Kaif (v Sri Lanka, Johannesburg, 10-03-2003) - who have also taken four catches in a match.
Laxman also the became first Indian and only the second player in LOIs to have taken four catches in a match against Zimbabwe after Pakistan's Younis Khan who did so at Harare on 01-12-2002.
Laxman has now taken his tally of catches to 12 in 8 games in this VB Series which equals the existing world record of most catches by a fielder in a tournament. New Zealand's Jeremy Coney (in Benson & Hedges WSC in 1980-81) and Australia's Allan Border (in Benson & Hedges WSC in 1988-89) had also taken 12 catches in the field. Both Coney and Border played 11 matches each.
Pathan (4-24) became the second youngest Indian bowler to capture four wickets in a match at the age of 19 years 99 days after Sachin Tendulkar, who was 18 years 182 days old while taking four for 34 against West Indies in a Wills Trophy match at Sharjah on 22-10-1991.
Rahul Dravid (10) equalled the LOI record of playing most consecutive innings without a single duck. Dravid has now batted in 119 consecutive innings since 29-08-1999 with out getting dismissed for a naught. His last duck had come in an Aiwa Cup match against Australia at Colombo (SSC) on 28-08-1999. Dravid equalled the tally of New Zealander Martin Crowe who also had a run of 119 consecutive 'duckless' innings from 22-02-1984 to 28-03-1993.
India won the match with 117 balls to be spared. It was the sixth occasion India were registering a victory over Zimbabwe (batting second) with more than 100 balls remaining at their disposal.
Irfan Pathan won his maiden Man of the Match award. At 19 years 99 days, Pathan became the third youngest Indian player to win the award after Sachin Tendulkar (17 years 225 days, v Sri Lanka, Pune, 05-12-1990) and Yuvraj Singh (18 years 300 days, v Australia, Nairobi Gym, 07-10-2000).
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