Major highlights of the year

·     Rahul Dravid was dismissed without scoring in the second final of the VB triangular series against Australia. Before that, he had managed to open his account in 120 consecutive innings -- a world record. The previous record was held by New Zealander Martin Crowe with 119 innings.

·     Sachin Tendulkar became the first batsman to aggregate 13,000 runs in ODIs during the series against Pakistan.

·     Pakistan's Inzamam-ul-Haq completed his 10,000 runs in ODIs in Champions Trophy match against India to become second batsman in the world to do so. All ten Indian batsmen were dismissed caught in this match -- sixth such instance in ODIs.

Also Read One-Day Internationals in 2004 Images: The year that was

·     Pakistan's Mohammad Sami bowled a 17-ball over against Bangladesh in the last league match of Asia Cup, which consisted of 7 wides and 4 no-balls -- the longest over ever bowled in ODIs.

·     Australia's Adam Gilchrist made 172 off just 126 balls in a VB Series match against Zimbabwe to post the highest score by a wicket-keeper in ODIs.

·     Gilchrist also effected 6 dismissals against Sri Lanka at Colombo to equal the world record. This record has now been made on six occasions and Gilchrist has done it four times!

·     Pakistan's Shoaib Malik took 4 for 19 after scoring 118 against Hong Kong in Asia Cup to perform one of the best all-round performances in game's history.

·     693 runs were scored for the loss of 15 wickets in the opening match of the five-match series between Pakistan and India at Karachi - the highest match aggregate in an ODI. The previous record was of 664 runs between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in a Singer Cup match at Singapore in 1995-96.

·     Former Ranji player Rahul Sharma made his ODI debut for Hong Kong at the age of 43 years 306 days -- third oldest player to play in ODIs. Sharma was also captaining Hong Kong in this match - only Normon Gifford of England has captained an ODI side at an older age for the first time.