Here we see that JE Root’s 218 was the highest innings score for England in India, surpassing the 207 by MW Gatting in 1984-85 which was also at Madras.
Now for the second Test. We look at India’s highest victories by runs against all teams:
We can see that India’s win by 317 runs in the 2nd Test is their highest winning margin by runs against England. The previous record was by 279 runs at Leeds in 1986. In India it was by 246 runs at Visakhapatnam in 2016-17.
This margin of 317 runs is India’s 5th highest victory against all countries.
We also look at India’s highest defeats by runs against all teams:
In the first Test, England won by 227 runs against India. This is quite far down this list, but was England’s highest victory by runs against India in India. It surpassed the 212-run victory at Mumbai in 2005-06.
Debut innings figures by Indian bowlers:
AR Patel’s 5-60 is 7th on the list, but the 2nd best by a left-arm spinner.(after DR Doshi).
We also look at debut match figures by Indian bowlers:
AR Patel’s 7-100 is again 7th on this list and the second best by a left-arm spinner after DR Doshi.
Best match bowling figures by an Indian player who scored a century in the same Test:
Ashwin has the first 3 of the 5 positions here. His 8-96 is in 2nd place.
Axar (AR) Patel has figured in these columns before:
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.)
The first question we asked was “Who is the best opening bowler of the 2010s?”
Here we set the bowling position as #1 or #2, and a minimum of 50 wickets.
You may have thought of someone like Steyn or Mitchell Johnson or Morkel.
In Dec 2015, R Ashwin had the best average, BW Hilfenhaus the best economy rate, and Ashwin again with the best strike rate.
When we consider the entire 2010s:
There is another unexpected result with the burly Rangana Herath having the best bowling average here. He is followed by Bumrah (expected) and Rabada (also expected). Ashwin is 4th.
Other spinners here are MDK (Dilruwan) Perera, and MH Miraz.
This time Mohammad Abbas has the best economy rate and K Rabada the best strike rate.
Next, who is India’s best opening bowler? Surely Kapil or Srinath?
In 2015 we got Ashwin again (followed by Srinath and Kapil). Phadkar had the best economy rate and Ashwin the best strike rate.
Again in 2020, we consider all those who bowled at 1 or 2 for India and took at least 50 wickets up to the end of 2019.
This time Bumrah leads, followed by his contemporaries Ashwin and B Kumar. The first 4 places are held by current players.
Phadkar still has the best economy rate and is now followed by Bumrah. Bumrah has the best strike rate while Ashwin is second.
Finally, who was India’s best all-rounder? We consider all those who scored at least 1000 runs and took 100 wickets up to the end of 2019.
In 2015, it was Ashwin followed by Kapil and Pathan.
In 2020, the topper was not Ashwin but one of his contemporaries.
Indeed, this is led by Jadeja who is followed by Ashwin and Kapil. Of course, anyone below Shastri in this table should not really be called an all-rounder.
Having seen how batsmen of no 8 and below have fared against India, we see how India’s tailend batsmen have done in Tests:
Innings of 90 and above by Indian batsmen at No 8 and below:
Dhoni and Ashwin are among the main contributors here. It is often forgotten that Saha has scored centuries (also two more while batting at 7 or higher).
There are relatively few newcomers here. RH Shodhan is the only debutant here, while Ratra, Ashwin and Pandya made their centuries at the start of their career. J Yadav soon dropped out of the Test reckoning. Kumble and Harbhajan made their centuries at a late stage of their careers.
It should be noted that Kapil usually batted at 7 or higher.
We now look at averages of those batting at 8 and below, subject to a minimum of 10 innings:
Dhoni expectedly has the highest average, while Saha is surprisingly second and Prabhakar third. Prabhakar also played many of his matches higher in the order.
Sandhu seems to have been better as a batsman than a bowler during his brief career. He still holds the record of the highest score by a debutant (71) at no 9.
Dhoni, Kapil, Ashwin and Harbhajan all have two centuries here. The most 50+ scores are by Kapil (15), Harbhajan (11) and Jadeja (10). Harbhajan did make rapid progress as a batsman since his debut.
Kumble has over 2000 runs here, while Kapil and several others have over a thousand. Saha, Ashwin and Jadeja are among the current players here.
Finally we look at century partnerships for the 8th to 10th wicket:
There are some large partnerships here, some of which were in a losing cause (such as the one between Azhar and Kumble). One which was significant was the 122 by Prasanna and Sardesai, which helped India to impose the follow-on on the West Indies and gain a psychological advantage which lasted till the end of the series.
The partnership between Tendulkar (248*) and Zaheer Khan (75) was then the record for the 10th wicket, until Root and Anderson overtook it against India. Both Tendulkar and Zaheer made their highest scores here. Another useful 10th-wicket partnership was the one between B Kumar and Shami, in which both scored fifties.
Ishant Sharma’s heroics and his maiden Test fifty reminded us of the importance of having tailenders who can score some runs. Or, failing that, at least stay around long enough for other batsmen to score some more runs. Ishant was perhaps more of the second type.
We have a quick look at the best performers at 8-11 in the three formats.
For Tests and ODIs a cutoff of 20 innings is used. For T20Is it is 10 innings.
Test batting averages at 8-11:
RA Jadeja’s average is now above Kapil Dev’s. Remember that both of them and a few others like Nadkarni scored centuries up to No 7 as well.
Kapil, Ashwin and Harbhajan have two centuries here. Others with centuries are Kirmani, IK Pathan, Kumble and Agarkar.
Here Agarkar has the lowest average by a century-maker and Ishant the lowest by a fifty-maker.
The lowest average here is by Maninder Singh, followed by Chandrashekhar and Doshi which most would have guessed.
In ODIs, we have:
The highest averages are by Pathan and Chetan Sharma. Sharma has scored a century batting lower.
Pathan and Agarkar are the only ones here with 2 fifties. The lowest average by a fifty-scorer is by Praveen Kumar.
The lowest average is by Sreesanth, followed by Ishant Sharma and Nehra.
For T20Is, no one has 20 innings so we take the cutoff of 10 innings instead.
Ashwin and Harbhajan are the only ones who qualify here. Neither has scored a fifty.
The second Test at Centurion was noted for various things such as silly runouts and young Ngidi’s bowling. Here we look at the best bowling figures on debut against and for India (all figures as of 17 Jan 2018).
Best against India-innings (5wi):Â
Ngidi is in 5th position here, while his compatriot Klusener leads. That was to remain Klusener’s best in Tests, as in the case of Lever. Krezja’s effort came in a defeat for his team, and he played only one Test after this. Hazlewood is another current player in this list, while B Lee, like Bedser, had a long career.
Bedser and Pollard made their debut together. BR Taylor remains the only one in all Tests to make a century and take a fiver on debut. We will come to Lever’s similar record in a moment.
Best against India-match (7wm):
The luckless Krezja tops this table. Bedser is second, and he followed with another 11-wicket haul in his second Test to start a long career for England. His partner Pollard is also here, though he had a relatively short career. Ngidi is relatively lower in this table as he took only one wicket in the first innings.
Hazlewood is the only other current player to appear here. Other famous names include B Lee and Trueman.
In an odd case of symmetry, JK Lever was the only one in all Tests to score a fifty and take a ten-for on debut. India’s S Venkataraghavan was in the Indian team on both occasions.
We also look at the corresponding figures for Indian bowlers on debut.
Best for India-innings (5wi):
Hirwani steals the show here. He had a slightly better career than RAL Massie, who also took 16 wickets on debut. Ashwin and Shami are in the current team, as is Mishra from recent times. Nissar’s effort came in India’s first-ever Test.
Best for India-match (7wm):
Hirwani again leads, with the best match figures in all Tests by a debutant. His 16-136 was just ahead of Massie’s 16-137. Shami, Ashwin and Mishra appear here as well. Doshi and Yadav had moderately successful careers.
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