It was the 1535th Test match in cricket history.It was India's 338th and Australia's 613th match.It was the 59th Test between these two sides. The record now reads: India 12, Australia 29, drawn 17 and tied one.Umpires Peter Willey and SK Bansal were officiating in their 22nd and sixth match respectively.Venkatapathy Raju was making a comeback to the Indian side after about three years. He last appeared against Australia at Bangalore in March 1998 thus missing 19 matches in between his two appearances.Harbhajan Singh became first Indian to claim a Test match hat-trick when he dismissed Ponting, Gilchrist and Warne off first three deliveries of his 16th over. A Test match hat-trick has now been achieved on 29 occasions by 26 bowlers. This is also the first Test hat-trick on Indian soil.A total of eleven hat-tricks have been witnessed in Australia (five in Melbourne, two in Sydney and Perth and one each in Adelaide and Brisbane), followed by six in England (three in Manchester, two in Leeds and one at Lord's), four in Pakistan (three in Lahore and one at Rawalpindi), three in South Africa (one each at Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg and Cape Town) and finally one each in New Zealand (at Christchurch), at a neutral venue in Bangladesh (at Dhaka), in Sri Lanka (at Galle),in Zimbabwe (at Harare) and now in India (at Kolkata). No hat-trick has been made in West Indies as yet.Steve Waugh (110) made his 25th Test hundred. He made his second against India and first on Indian soil. Waugh has now scored hundred in all Test playing nations with the exception of Sri Lanka. Australia is yet to play a Test in Bangladesh.Now only five batsmen have scored more Test centuries than Steve Waugh - India's Sunil Gavaskar (34), Australians Don Bradman (29) and Allan Border (27) and West Indian Gary Sobers (26).The hundred was Waugh's 13th in an `away' Test. With this he equalled Neil Harvey's tally. Now only Allan Border with 14 has scored more hundreds than Waugh on foreign soil. The Test record is on the name of India's Sunil Gavaskar with 18 hundreds from his 60 `away' Tests.The ninth wicket partnership of 133 runs between Steve Waugh and Jason Gillespie is Australia's best for this wicket against India in all Tests obliterating the 96 run-partnership between Ian Healy and Gavin Robertson at Chennai in 1997-98.The partnership is also the second best for Australia for ninth wicket against all countries. The best still remains the 154 run-partnership between Syd Gregory and Jack Blackham against England at Sydney in 1894-95.Jason Gillespie (46) made his highest Test score beating the 41 against Sri Lanka at Kandy in 1999-00. His innings is the fifth highest for a number 10 batsman against India after Andy Robert's 68 (for WI at Calcutta in 1983-84), Gavin Robertson's 57 (for Aus at Chennai in 1997-98) Hedley Verity's 55* (for England at Calcutta in 1933-34) and Gary Lock's 49 (for England at Kanpur in 1961-62).Harbhajan Singh (7 for 123) while achieving his best figures in all first class matches became the fifth Indian to bag seven or more wickets in an innings against Australia.When Steve Waugh asked India to bat again, it provided the 58th occasion of an Australian captain enforcing the follow-on. India on the other hand, was enforced to follow-on for the 27th time. It was the fifth occasion of Australia enforcing follow-on on India. The last time India was made to follow-on was way back in February 1990 in the Christchurch Test in New Zealand. However the last time a visiting team did so against India was the West Indies at Kanpur in October 1983. India was beaten quite comprehensively in both these matches.Shiv Sundar Das became the 18th Indian (on 20th occasion) to be dismissed `hit-wicket' in a Test. Mohinder Amarnath had been dismissed in this fashion on as many as three occasions. Das also became the fifth Indian batsman to be dismissed in this mode against Australia after Budhi Kunderan (at Mumbai Brabourne in 1959-60), Abid Ali (at Sydney in 1967-68), Dilip Vengsarkar (at Brisbane in 1977-78) and Mohinder Amarnath (at Mumbai Wankhede in 1979-80).VVS Laxman, when reached 75, completed his 1000 runs in his 21st Test (and 37th innings). He became 45th Indian and the 360th Test batsman to reach this landmark.Laxman provided the 21st occasion of an Indian batsman making a double hundred in a Test innings. His 281 now tops all of them beating the previous record holder Sunil Gavaskar (236* v West Indies at Chennai in 1983-84).Laxman's innings is the third highest by a batsman against Australia in all Tests after Englishmen Len Hutton's 364 at The Oval in 1938 and Reg Foster's 287 (on debut) at Sydney in 1903-04. Incidentally the previous highest by an Indian against Australia was 206 by Ravi Shastri at Sydney in 1991-92.Laxman's innings is also the highest by any batsman on Indian soil beating West Indian Rohan Kanhai's 256 also at Calcutta in 1958-59.Laxman's innings is the 21st highest in all Test matches. Of these 21 Top scores in the history of the game 17 have been made in a team's first innings. Laxman's effort, thus deserves a special mention. Only Pakistan's Hanif Mohammad (337 v WI, Bridgetown, 1957-58), New Zealander Martin Crowe (299 v SL, Wellington, 1990-91) and England's Peter May (285* v WI, Birmingham, 1957) have made higher scores than Laxman in second innings of their respective teams.Laxman's effort in terms of runs and situation of the match probably rates second only to Hanif Mohammad's 337 - the highest score for a side following on. Hanif played that innings when Pakistan was bundled out for a paltry 106 in reply to West Indies' massive 579. Following-on 437 behind, Pakistan made 657 in its second essay and held on for a draw.Laxman also became first Indian to score 150 or more runs in an innings in just boundaries. Laxman scored 176 runs (44 fours) in boundaries easily surpassing the previous Indian record shared by Budhi Kunderan (192 v England at Madras, 1963-64) and Gundappa Viswanath (222 v England at Madras, 1981-82). Both these batsmen had hit 31 fours each during their innings. Laxman, infact, just missed the oppurtunity to overhaul Don Bradman's record of most fours (excluding sixes) in a Test innings. Bradman had hit 46 fours during his innings of 334 against England at Leeds in 1930. The Test record of most runs in boundaries is on the name of England's John Edrich who made 238 runs out of his 310 runs (v New Zealand at Leeds in 1965) in boundaries. The details:Runs 6s 5s 4s Batsman (Score) For Vs Venue Season
238 5 - 52 John Edrich(310*) Eng NZ Leeds 1965
196 10 - 34 Wally Hammond (336*) Eng NZ Auckland 1933-33
190 3 - 43 Graham Gooch (333) Eng Ind Lord's 1990
184 0 - 46 Don Bradman (334) Aus Eng Leeds 1930
184 2 - 43 Don Bradman (304) Aus Eng Leeds 1934
180 0 - 45 Brian Lara (375) WI Eng St.John's 1993-94
177 1 1 43 Graeme Pollock (274) SA Aus Durban 1969-70
176 0 - 44 VVS Laxman (281) Ind Aus Calcutta 2000-01
168 0 - 42 Rohan Kanhai (256) WI Ind Calcutta 1958-59
166 1 - 40 Dennis Amiss (262*) Eng WI Kingston 1973-74
160 0 - 40 Aravinda de Silva(267) SL NZ Wellington 1990-91
160 12 - 22 Wasim Akram (257*) Pak Zim Sheikhupura 1996-97
Rahul Dravid (180) scored ninth hundred in his 42nd Test and his first against Australia. His innings is the highest for India at number six against all countries beating Chandu Borde's 177* against Pakistan at Chennai in 1960-61.Dravid's innings is also the highest by a batsman at number six against Australia. Interestingly the previous highest was also on the name of an Indian. Sandeep Patil had made 174 at Adelaide in 1980-81.On the fourth day, Laxman and Dravid batted through out the day adding 335 runs. This provided only the fourth instance of a pair batting through out a complete day and adding 300 plus runs. Others to do so are: West Indians Denis Atkinson and Cecil Depeiza (from 187-6 to 494-6 v Australia at Bridgetown in 1954-55) , Conrad Hunte and Gary Sobers (from 147-1 to 504-1 v Pakistan at Kingston in 1957-58) and Australians Geoff Marsh and Mark Taylor (from 0-0 to 301-0 v England at Nottingham in 1989).Laxman and Dravid become only the third Indian pair to bat through out a full day's play. The others being Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy (first day - took the score to 234-0) against New Zealand at Chennai in 1955-56, Gundappa Viswanath and Yashpal Sharma (second day - took the score from 178-2 to 395-2) against England at Chennai in 1981-82.The 376 run-partnership between Laxman and Dravid is the 16th highest for any wicket in all Test matches. It is also the third highest for the fifth wicket after 405 run-partnership between Don Bradman and Syd Barnes against England at Sydney in 1946-47 and 385 run-partnership between Steve Waugh and Greg Blewett against South Africa at Johannesburg in 1996-97.The partnership is the highest for India for the fifth wicket against all countries, bettering the previous highest of 214 between Ravi Shastri and Mohammad Azharuddin against England at Calcutta in 1984-85. Incidentally the previous best for the fifth wicket for India against Australia was the 196 put on by Shastri and Sachin Tendulkar at Sydney in 1991-92.The partnership is also the highest for fifth wicket by any side against Australia putting into shade the 322 run-partnership between Brian Lara and Jimmy Adams for West Indies at Kingston in 1998-99 (in fact 344 runs were added by three batsmen for this wicket. Pedro Collins retired hurt after adding 22 and Lara was joined by Adams).The partnership is also the second highest for India for any wicket. Only the 413 run stand between Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy for the first wicket against New Zealand at Chennai in 1955-56 exceeds the effort of Laxman and Dravid. India's previous highest partnership against Australia for any wicket was the unbeaten 298 between Dilip Vengsarkar and Shastri at Bombay in 1986-87.India's second innings total (657-7d) is its second highest against all opponents after the 676 for seven against Sri Lanka at Kanpur in 1986-87. Incidentally India's previous highest against Australia was 633 for five also at this same venue in 1997-98.India's total is the third highest by a side against Australia. England had made 903 for seven at The Oval and 658 for eight at Nottingham in 1938.India's second innings total is also the joint highest by any side after following on. Pakistan had made 657 for 8 against West Indies at Bridgetown in 1957-58. The table below lists the highest totals after follow-on:Score For Vs Venue Season
657-8d Pakistan West Indies Bridgetown 1957-58
657-7d India Australia Kolkata 2000-01
572-7d South Africa England Durban 1999-00
551 England South Africa Nottingham 1947
538 England Australia The Oval 1975
537 Pakistan Australia Rawalpindi 1994-95
510 India England Leeds 1967
503-6 Zimbabwe India Nagpur 2000-01
The disparity of 222 runs in Laxman's two innings (59 &281) is a new record for India. The previous record was on the name of Sunil Gavaskar who had the variance of 208 (13 & 221) against England at The Oval in 1979.The disparity of 486 runs in India's two innings (171 & 657) is the third biggest between a team's two innings in a Test. Only Pakistan's 551 (106 & 657) against West Indies at Bridgetown in 1957-58 and New Zealand's 497 (174 and 671) against Sri Lanka at Wellington in 1990-91 exceeds India's effort. The previous record for India was 422 runs when after being dismissed for 83 they had made 505-3 against New Zealand at Mohali in 1999-00.Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist provided the 74th and 75th instance of an Australian batsman bagging a pair. Gilchrist suffered every batsman's worst fear - a pair of first ball ducks-each time falling lbw.Shane Warne has now equalled Glenn McGrath's Australian record of most ducks in a career. Both Warne and McGrath now have a tally of 22 ducks from 86 and 69 Tests respectively.India provided only the third time in Test history when a side won the match after having to follow on and Australia has been on the receiving end every time. The first was at Sydney in 1894-95 when England (325 and 437) beat Australia (586 and 166) by only 10 runs. And the second occasion,863 Tests later, was an ever more famous one: the Leeds Test of 1981 when England (174 and 356) beat Australia (401-9d and 111) by 18 runs.Shane Warne (1-152) returned his worst figures in a Test innings. The only other occasion when Warne conceded over 150 runs in an innings was also against India on his Test debut (1-150) at Sydney in 1991-92. However Warne can take some solace from the fact that the record of conceding most runs in an innings by an Australian against India is still on the name of Gavin Robertson. He conceded 163 runs while taking two wickets in the Calcutta Test in 1997-98.Harbhajan Singh's match figures of 13-196 represents the second best figures by an Indian in a Test match against Australia after the 14-124 by Jasu Patel at Kanpur in 1959-60.India recorded its first win over Australia after losing five consecutive matches since the Bangalore Test in 1997-98.The defeat was Australia's first since Sri Lanka beat it in Kandy in September 1999. It ended a record winning streak of 16 matches and an unbeaten sequence of 18.Adam Gilchrist ended on the losing side for the first time after having appeared in 15 consecutive wins since making debut against Pakistan at Brisbane in November 1999. 