More snippets from the 3rd Test at Ahmedabad:

England’s lowest Test total against India:

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.

The importance of February 6

On February 6, 1952 King George VI died in London. His daughter Elizabeth, who was than on an official visit to Kenya ascended the throne (though the coronation took place over a year later). 69 years later, she is still going strong….

In 2021, Queen Elizabeth will turn 95, Prince Philip will turn 100 and their marriage will complete 74 years. They were married a few months after India’s independence.

Closer home, Feb 6, 1952 was the first day of the 5th Test between India and England at Madras. England led 1-0 at that point.

In those days there used to be a rest day after 3 days of play. However Feb 7 was made the rest day instead because of the King’s demise. The English players wore black armbands.

On Feb 10th (the 4th day of play) India won by an innings and 8 runs. This was India’s first Test victory and they drew the series 1-1. This was the only Test when England was captained by DB Carr, while Vijay Hazare was India’s captain.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/england-tour-of-india-1951-52-61800/india-vs-england-5th-test-62729/full-scorecard

On February 6, 2021 another Test between India and England will be in progress at Chennai.

Important people born on Feb 6:

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890)

Ronald Reagan (1911)

Eva Braun Hitler (1912)

Fred Trueman (1931)

Bob Marley (1945)

S Sreesanth (1983)

Important people who died on Feb 6:

Motilal Nehru (1931)

King George VI (1952)

Ritwik Ghatak (1976)

James Hadley Chase (1985)

Arthur Ashe (1993)

besides several football players of Manchester United in a plane crash at Munich airport in 1958.