This match was the 2098th Limited Overs International in cricket history.
Matthew Hayden (126 off 122 balls) scored his fourth LOI hundred in his 89th match. Of these, three have been scored against India.
The wicket of Andrew Symonds was the 50th for Ashish Nehra in his 44th match. He became the 20th Indian and the 149th bowler overall to do so.
Australia's total of 359 for five equals their highest total in LOIs. They had also compiled 359 for the loss of two wickets against India at Johannesburg in the final of 2002-03 World Cup. It is also the joint highest score by any side against India and the highest score in the final/grand final of a tournament.
Australia's total is also the highest ever on Australian soil, beating 344 for seven by Australia against Zimbabwe at Hobart on 16-01-2004. Incidentally, the previous highest total at the SCG was Sri Lanka's 343 for five against Australia on 09-01-2003.
Five Indian bowlers -- Irfan Pathan (2/75), Laxmipathy Balaji (0/65), Nehra (2/63), Murali Kartik (0/51) and Sachin Tendulkar (1/60) conceded over 50 runs in the Australian innings. This provided only the second instance of five Indian bowlers conceding over 50 runs in an innings. The only other instance was against Pakistan at Madras on 21-05-1997, when Venkatesh Prasad, Abey Kuruvilla, Anil Kumble, Robin Singh and Sachin Tendulkar went for more than 50 runs each.
Irfan Pathan's figures of 10-0-75-2 (RpO 7.50) are now the second most expensive by a bowler in the final of a tournament. The record is in the name of another Indian Javagal Srinath, who conceded 87 runs (RpO 8.70) in his 10 overs in the 2002-03 World Cup final against Australia.
Rahul Dravid's sequence of consecutive innings without a duck came to a halt after 120 innings when he was run-out by Damien Martyn while going for a quick single.
Ashish Nehra scored 14 runs off just 4 balls with two fours and a six. He now holds the LOI record of playing the highest individual innings off exactly four balls. The previous record was in the name of West Indian Roger Harper, who had scored 13 runs against Australia at Adelaide on 25-01-1987.
The victory margin of 208 runs for Australia is the joint-eighth highest in the history of Limited Overs Internationals. It is the fourth biggest victory for Australia.
The defeat is the second biggest for India. They had lost to Sri Lanka in the Champions Trophy final, in Sharjah on 29-10-2000, by 245 runs.
The victory margin of 208 runs is also the third biggest for a side in the final/grand final of a LOI tournament. Sri Lanka had beaten India by 245 runs at Sharjah in the Champions Trophy final on 29-10-2000 and Pakistan had defeated Sri Lanka by 217 runs at Sharjah on 17-04-2002.
The win was Ricky Ponting's 50th as captain. He became the third Australian after Allan Border (107 wins in 178 matches) and Steve Waugh (67 wins in 106 matches) and the 14th captain overall to do so. Incidentally, Border also holds the world record of winning most games as a captain.
The defeat was Sourav Ganguly's 50th as captain. He became the second Indian after Mohammad Azharuddin (76 losses in 174 games) and the seventh captain in LOIs to achieve this dubious distinction. Incidentally, Sri Lanka's Arjuna Ranatunga, with 95 losses in 193 games holds the world record of losing most games as a captain.
Andrew Symonds ended the series with 349 runs and 10 wickets in nine matches. He became only the second Australian all-rounder to aggregate 300-plus runs and 10 wickets in a tournament after Greg Chappell, who made 686 runs and took 22 wickets in 14 matches of the 1980-81 Benson and Hedges World Series Cup.
Adam Gilchrist ended the series with 498 runs and 17 dismissals in 8 matches second best all-round performance by a keeper in a tournament. Gilchrist himself holds the record of best all-round performance in a tournament. He had made 525 runs and made 27 dismissals in 1998-99 Carlton & United Series.
Matthew Hayden won his fourth Man of the Match award.
Adam Gilchrist won the Man of the Series / Tournament award for the second time in his career. His only other Man of the Series award had come in the Aiwa Cup in 1999.
Since October 2000, India have played in 11 tournaments, comprising three or more teams, and have featured in the final of each tournament, but succeeded in winning only one title. On two occasions India were declared joint winners with the other finalists (because of the final being washed out) and on the remaining eight occasions India suffered defeat.
