Following Surya Yadav’s saga of 3 ducks in 3 balls in an ODI series, we can look at another famous feat of duck-making, set by Ajit Agarkar in the 1999-2000 Test series against Australia.
In the first test, he made 19 and 0 (1 ball) thus including a golden duck.
In the second, he made 0(1) and 0(1)-a golden pair.
In the third, he went on to 0(1) and 0(2)-a golden duck followed by a silver duck.
This means he was dismissed 5 times in 6 balls, and recorded 5 successive 0s.
However, he was not that incompetent as a batsman. He had a first-class average of 28.75 with 4 centuries and a top score of 145. His Test average was 16.79.
He crossed 50 only once in Tests. That was when he made 109* at Lord’s in 2002.
This gives a nice quiz question-What batting feat was achieved by Agarkar but not by Gavaskar and Tendulkar ?
India won the series 3-0, being the latest in a series of numerous clean sweeps against Sri Lanka. The highlight was a 317-run victory in the 3rd match, which is the biggest victory margin in any ODI. More on this topic here: https://abn397.wordpress.com/2023/01/15/record-victories-in-odis/
A total of 165 ODIs have been played between these teams.
India has won 96, Sri Lanka 57, 1 tied and 11 no-results.
In India: 39-12-0-3
In Sri Lanka: 30-28-0-6
On neutral grounds: 27-17-1-2
Interestingly, the first ODI between these teams was during the 1979 World Cup in England. Sri Lanka won. India did not win any match in that tournament.
Looking at individual performances, starting with
Batting:
Most runs (750 or more):
Headed by Tendulkar and Jayasuriya. Kohli is in 5th place.
Kohli has the most centuries (10) followed by Tendulkar with 8. For 50+ scores, Tendulkar has 25 and Sangakkara 24.
Highest innings scores (125 or more):
Headed by 2 double centuries by RG Sharma. His 264 is the record individual score in ODIs. Kohli’s 166* is in 7th place.
Highest batting averages (Minimum 20 innings and 35.00):
This series was the first time India had played Zimbabwe in ODIs since 2016. India won 3-0, following their earlier clean sweeps in 2013, 2015 and 2016.
Summary of all ODIs between these teams:
India leads 54-10 overall and 22-4 in Zimbabwe.
We now look at individual performances, starting with
Batting:
Most runs (500 or more):
Tendulkar and Ganguly have almost the same totals. No current players here. The most are by Sikandar Raza (388) and S Dhawan (367).
The most centuries are 5 by Tendulkar and 3 by Ganguly.
The most 50+ scores are 12 by A Flower and 11 by A Campbell
Highest innings (100 or more):
Here there are some new records:
Shubham Gill’s 130 is the highest for India in Zimbabwe (surpassing Tendulkar’s 127* in 1998)
Sikandar Raza’s 115 is the highest for Zimbabwe at home vs India (surpassing E Chigumbura’s 104* in 2015).
With this 2-1 victory, India continued its dominance of bilateral ODI series against Sri Lanka. The last such series in Sri Lanka in Aug 2017 was a 5-0 win by India (with similar results in Tests and T20Is).
Sri Lanka has never won an ODI bilateral series in India.
Overall summary of results:
Trivia note: the first ODI between these teams was won by Sri Lanka in the 1979 World Cup.
Batting:
1000 and more runs:
Also see that the most centuries are 8 each by Kohli and Tendulkar, and the most 50+ scores are 25 by Tendulkar and 24 by Sangakkara.
The highest total by those who played in this series is 1111 by Dhawan, although Kohli has the most by current players.
Highest innings (120 and more):
While the world record of 264 remains with RG Sharma, there is no other century in this series.
Batting averages (Min 20 innings and 25.00):
Kohli is second here followed by other current players such as Mathews and RG Sharma. But no one who played in this series is here.
Strike rates (Minimum 500 balls faced, 75.00):
S Dhawan is second on this list, and is the only one here who played in the current series. RG Sharma and Kohli follow him.
Bowling:
Most wickets (20 and above):
The only one with two five-fors is RR Singh. The only one with 4 four-fors is BAW Mendis. I. Sharma is among those with 3.
The only one on this list who played in the current series is B Kumar at the bottom.
Best innings bowling (including all 5wi and above):
No such instance from this series, although Bumrah and B Kumar are there from earlier series.
Bowling averages (Minimum 1000 balls bowled, all instances):
Among current and near-current players, there are Mathews, T Perera and R Jadeja.
The best averages are by Agarkar and BAW Mendis.
The best economy rates are by Kapil and Harbhajan.
The best strike rates are by Agarkar and I Sharma.
Fielding:
Most dismissals (15 and above):
Dhoni has the most catches and stumpings. The most catches by a non-keeper are by M Jayawardene.
Most dismissals in innings (4 and above):
Dhoni is the only one with 5 dismissals, while M Kaif is the only non-keeper with 4 catches. Saha is the only other keeper from recent times.
Best dismissal rate (minimum 20 innings, 0.400)
Dhoni again leads here, while Kohli has the best among current players.
All-round performance:
Overall (see criteria in table):
Somewhat unexpectedly, Mathews and IK Pathan turn out to be the best all-rounders here.
Match (30 runs and 3 wickets):
The best performances here are by Ganguly, RR Singh, Thushara and Prabhakar.
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