Two fifties in a match in India-WI Tests

GH Vihari became the latest to make two scores of 50+ in a Test for India against the Wes Indies. Here is the full list of those who have achieved this:

This includes 3 matches of Gavaskar in the 1971 series, where he made his debut on 06/03/1971. He is the only debutant here.

In 1962, Umrigar added a fiver to his two fifty-plus scores.

Two cases of centuries in both innings by Gavaskar (1971 and 1978).

The corresponding performances for the West Indies against India:

Only 23 such performances, compared to 33 by India.

They include Weekes’s pair of centuries in 1948, as part of his five in  successive innings.

And Sobers added a fiver to his century and fifty in 1962.

Lloyd and Greenidge were making their debuts.

Only Weekes made centuries in both innings.

When the tail wagged (Aug 2019)

In the ongoing Test at Kingston, India registered a somewhat rare triumph of a fifty at No 9 along with a century partnership.

Fifty plus by No 9 batsmen from India:

Ishant Sharma’s 57 is a little below the middle. There are several Indians above him, led by J Yadav who vanished as quickly as he got into the team. Even a century at no 9 does not help.

Century partnership for the 8th wicket by India:

Again, the partnership of 112 by Vihari and Ishant is a little below the middle. There is one against WI a little higher (120* by Dravid and Sarandeep in 2002).

For the sake of comparison, we also look at:

Fifty plus at No 9 against the West Indies:

Here, too, Ishant is a bit lower than the middle. The highest for India is 79 by Kunderan in 1966-67. The highest for India in the West Indies is 68 by BS Sandhu. Oddly enough, Sandhu’s 71 against Pakistan in 1982-83 is the best on debut by a No 9 in all Tests.

Century partnerships for the 8th wicket against the West Indies:

The Vihari – Sharma partnership is the 8th highest here, while the 120* by Dravid and Sarandeep is the 6th highest. The highest partnership of 217 was part of one of the more remarkable comebacks in all Tests, when Brian Close captained for the first time:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/17312/scorecard/62995/england-vs-west-indies-5th-test-west-indies-tour-of-england-1966

This involved a recovery from 166/7 to 527 and fifty-plus from the No 9, 10 and 11 batsmen (Murray, Higgs and Snow).

 

 

 

Fifty on Test debut by Indian players (Sep 2018)

Centuries on Test debut are well documented:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/239555.html

Here we look at those who scored  one or more scores of 50 to 99 on debut.

Indian players:

Some points of note:

Dilawar Hussain and SM Gavaskar scored fifties in each innings on debut.

The Yuvaraj of Patiala (father of current Punjab CM Amarinder Singh) was playing in his only Test.

A few of these players went on to successful careers, notably Amar Singh, Mankad, Phadkar, Nadkarni, Gavaskar, Dravid, Laxman and Pujara.

But here are quite a few who ended their careers with 5 or less Tests and/or are forgotten to most cricket fans. These include the 2-Test players Kanitkar (senior), P Roy (junior), Rajput and Badrinath.

The jury is still out on Pandya. Let us hope that Vihari and MA Agarwal do better.

It is also worthwhile to look at all such Test players since 2014:

Note fifties in both innings by MDKJ Perera and Fakhar Zaman.

The most successful among these include MDK Perera, MDKJ Perera, JO Holder, Dickwella, Buttler,  Pandya, Markram, Imam, Fakhar, MA Agarwal and Finch. And there are several others who are unlikely to play Tests again.