Review of West Indies-India Test series, 2016

As we all know, India won “only” 2-0 with 2 drawn which meant it is not the No 1 Test team any longer. Fear not, India has many home Tests coming up while Pakistan has to visit New Zealand and Australia in the coming months.

A total of 94 Tests have been played between the two countries. WI leads 30-18 with 46 draws. In WI there have been 49 Tests, where WI lead 16-7 with 26 draws. Even in the 45 Tests in India, WI lead 14-11 with 20 draws.

However, the last time WI defeated India in a Test was over a decade ago, in May 2002 at Kingston. That 2001-02 series was the last time WI won a Test series against India. India have since won in India in 2002-03, in WI in 2006, in India in 2011-12, in India in 2013-14, and now in WI in 2016.

And the last time WI won a Test in India was at Mohali in Dec 1994. They last won a Test series in India in 1983-84. The series in India in 1987-88 and 1994-95 were drawn.

Now for the specifics in 2016:

Batting:

Most runs (850 and above):

No current players in this list.The most centuries are 13 by Gavaskar, followed by 8 for Richards and Sobers. The most scores of 50+ are 20 by Gavaskar, followed by 19 (Lloyd), 18 (Dravid) and 17 (Chanderpaul).

Highest innings scores (175 and above):

Not much high scoring in recent years in WI, though Kohli made 200 in this series.

Highest batting averages (minimum 20 innings and average 35.00):

Sobers is far ahead of Gavaskar and three others who have averages above 60. ED Weekes scored over 1000 runs and had a batting average over 100 but played less than 20 innings. Similarly Walcott had an average of almost 70 but did not play enough innings. (See the first table above).

Now to bowling, which includes the best match bowling by a debutant in all Tests.

Most wickets (30 and above):

Kapil has a comfortable lead over the next-placed Marshall and Kumble.

Marshall has the most fivers (6) followed by Harbhajan with 5.

No one has more than one tenner.

Best innings bowling (7wi and above):

Kapil leads here, followed by the long-forgotten Jack Noreiga whose 9-wicket haul is still a record for WI in all Tests. Hirwani’s debut can be seen here. Ashwin’s 7-83 at North Sound is the new record for India in WI, surpassing SP Gupte’s 7-162 in 1952-53.

Best match bowling (9wm and above):

Hirwani’s 16-136 is the best debut performance in all Tests, just ahead of RAL Massie’s 16-137 in 1972. Newcomer ML Cummins had the best match bowling in this series. Also note Shami’s debut in 2013-14. It may be surprising to see that Ishant Sharma has the best match bowling for India in WI.

Best bowling averages (Minimum 2000 balls bowled, all instances):

Ashwin and Harbhajan have the best averages for India.

The best economy rates are 1.68 by GE Gomez (not Larry Gomes), 1.83 by Gibbs and 1.87 by Valentine. The best for India is 2.38 by Bedi.

The best strike rates are 42.6 by Hall, 43.8 by Ashwin and 45.2 by Roberts.

Now for fielding, which includes some world stumping records in the Hirwani and More show at Chennai in 1987.

Most dismissals (15 and above):

Note Walcott’s dual role.

Most stumpings: 9 by More.

Most catches by a keeper: 58 by Dujon

Most catches by a non-keeper: 39 by Richards.

Best innings fielding: 6 by W Saha at North Point in 2016. Several others have 5 dismissals, including Sammy (non-keeper and share in world record) and More (5 stumpings, a world record).

Best match fielding: 8 by Dhoni, followed by More and Saha with 7. More’s 7 included 6 stumpings (another world record). The most by a non-keeper is 6 by Solkar, during India’s first win over WI in March 1971.

Best dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings fielded, 0.400 and above):

While Dhoni and Dujon lead this table, the best averages by a non-keeper is by Azharuddin followed by Lara.

All-round overall performances (note the criteria):

Sobers is far ahead of the others.

All-round match performance (at least one 50+ and one 5wi):

Several instances of a century and 5wi here including 2 by Ashwin. In this series Ashwin and newcomer Chase achieved this. Perhaps Ashwin’s feat in 2011 would be the best. Umrigar’s feat in 1962 is also notable as he did not bowl regularly.

 

The Test debutants of 2015

Here we look at the players who made their Test debuts in 2015, and the highlights of their performances.

We start with batting, listing those who scored at least a fifty:

Only one centurion-but Adam Voges went on to cross 1000 by the end of the year. Ronchi played in only that one Test, Dowrich played in 2 and was not heard of again. Kusal Perera hit two fifties on debut but is now under a doping cloud. CR Brathwaite started promisingly in the end of the year and scored another lower-order fifty in the new year.

The best innings bowling figures (minimum 4 wickets):

The only five-for was by Rashid, after he took 0-163 in the first innings which is the worst innings bowling by a debutant. He played in 3 Tests of that series but did not go on the tour to South Africa. The others made steady progress without anything spectacular.

The best match bowling figures (minimum 6 wickets):

As mentioned above, these three bowlers progressed steadily.

Best innings fielding (minimum 4 dismissals)

Only Australia’s wicketkeeper Peter Nevill qualifies. He has held on to his place in the team.

Best match fielding (minimum 4 dismissals)

Ronchi and Ojha have not played Tests again, Nevill is thriving and Perera’s future is uncertain at least in the short term.

Best all-round performance of batting and fielding (mimimum 50 runs and 4 dismissals)

All three have not been fortunate, as mentioned above.

Best all-round performance of batting and bowling (minimum 20 runs and 2 wickets in match)

This is really scraping the bottom of the barrel-but these are the best all-round performances on debut which can be found. They have continued to play steadily without major scores in Tests.

 

Most runs in Tests in first calendar year

As the statistically-minded would have noted, Adam Voges scored a century on Test debut in June and went on to complete 1000 runs by the end of 2015. He thus completed 1000 Test runs in the calendar year of his debut, becoming only the third to achieve this. This is not to be confused with scoring 1000+ Test runs in the first 365 days after his debut.

The only ones to have achieved this are:

MA Taylor (Aus)        1219@ 64.15       1989

AC Voges (Aus)          1028@ 85.66        2015

AN Cook (Eng)           1013@  46.04       2006

The only Test players from India who scored over 500 runs in the calendar year of their debut:

SM Gavaskar          918@ 83.45    1971

S Ramesh                843@ 49.58    1999

VG Kambli              793@113.28   1993

Yashpal Sharma   591@ 39.40      1979

SC Ganguly            504@ 50.40      1996

It helps, of course, if you make your debut in the early part of the year (though Voges, Yashpal and Ganguly made their debuts in mid-year).

Update:

Spare a thought for M. Azharuddin, who had the misfortune to make his debut in a Test starting on 31 Dec 1984. He made 110 runs in Tests starting in 1984 and 495 in Tests starting in 1985.