You can see that England’s 81 is their lowest total against India. The previous record was 101 in 1971 where Chandrashekhar took 6-38 to set up India’s first Test win in England.
And their previous lowest total in India was 102 in 1981-82, when Kapil and Madan Lal took fivers in the 4th innings.
Most economical 5-for by a spinner in a Test innings: Root’s 5-8 is in second place after Australia’s Ironmonger if you take the criteria of the least runs conceded in a 5-for:
Only Ironmonger’s 5-6 in 1931-32 has less runs conceded.
Let us also look at the same figure for all captains (regardless of bowling styles):
Here, Root’s innings bowling is second to AER Gilligan’s 6-7. But Gilligan was clearly a medium pacer. The previous record by a captain who was a spin bowler was 5-27 by BS Bedi v NZ in 1976-77. Next is Mushtaq Mohammad with 5-28.
And finally, the Devil makes a comeback here with a score of 66/6:
Though England has also faced 666/6 against India not long ago at Chennai in 2016-17, in KK Nair’s match.
While much has been said about 36 all out in recent days, it should not be forgotten that Indian bowlers have also now become capable of dismissing Test teams for two-digit scores. This did not happen before 1981, and the lowest by anyone against India is 79.
Here we list all Test scores by teams which are 100 or less, and 8 to 10 wickets down.
Note the 80/8 was not an all-out score, but probably would have ended under 100.
We give below details of the Indian bowlers involved, plus other features of interest.
Starting from the top:
SA 79 in 2015-16; I Sharma 0-4, Ashwin 5-32, Jadeja 4-33, A Mishra 1-9
(NZ narrowly escaped defeat after they had dismissed India for 88 and made them follow on. But Sardesai had other ideas and made his maiden century of 200*)
SL 82 in 1989-90; Kapil 1-14, Prabhakar 1-27, V Raju 6-12, G Sharma 1-26.
(The only Test played at Chandigarh).
Aus 83 in 1980-81; Ghavri 2-10, S Patil 0-5, Doshi 2-53, Kapil 5-28)
(The first time an Indian team dismissed the opposition in a Test for under 100, and they squared the series with this unexpected win. India’s next win in Australia came in 2003-04.)
SA 84 in 2006-07; Zaheer 2-32, Sreesanth 5-40, VRV Singh 1-8, Kumble 2-2
(Probably the high point of Sreesanth’s Test career. This was India’s first win in SA).
BD 91 in 2000-01; Srinath 3-19, Zaheer 1-20, Agarkar 2-16, S Joshi 3-27, M Kartik 1-1
(Bangladesh’s first Test. However, they had made 400 in the first innings).
Aus 93 in 2004-05; Zaheer 1-14, Harbhajan 5-29, M Kartik 3-32, Kumble 1-5
(Australia failed to chase 107, though India won a dead Test and lost the series 2-1.)
Mominul Haque became the latest captain to make a pair. Also remember the double act by du Plessis and Sarfaraz last year.
While the balls faced in an innings were not always recorded before 2000, we know that the only unusual pairs by captains were the “queen pairs” or silver pairs by Bedi and de Villiers.
Highest scores by wicketkeepers:
BJ Watling’s double century is the highest score by a wicketkeeper from New Zealand, but there are many other keepers with high scores:
Scores above 175 by wicketkeepers:
Mushfiqur Rahim is the only keeper with two double centuries.
Highest totals in Eng-NZ Tests:
New Zealand’s 615/9 dec against England was the highest in ANY Test between these teams:
Lowest scores against India:
Bangladesh’s 106 in 30.3 overs is not really the worst innings score against India. But it is the lowest score (both by runs and balls faced) in the first innings against India.
You can also see how Afghanistan fared in their first Test, against India in June 2018. They have picked up well after that.
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