Review of England-India Tests, 2021-2022 (Pt 1)

The series was drawn 2-2 with 1 draw. India however retained the Pataudi trophy by virtue of their win in India in early 2021.

This is only the second drawn series for India in England, the first being 1-1 in 2002. They had won only in 1971, 1986 and 2007.

The jinx at Birmingham continued, as India have lost 7 and drawn 1 at this venue.

The overall summary:

Note England’s strong home advantage, although India is coming up.

Proceeding to individual performances, starting with

Batting:

Most runs (800 and more):

JE Root has come within a whisker of overtaking Tendulkar’s total of 2535, and has overtaken Gavaskar. Kohli and Pujara are next among current players.

Root has the most centuries (9) followed by Cook, Dravid and Tendulkar with 7.

Gavaskar and Tendulkar have the most 50+ scores (20), followed by Root with 19.

Highest innings scores (180 and more):

The highest score in recent years was 218 by Root in early 2021.

Spare a thought for KK Nair who made India’s highest against England but played only 6 Tests overall. This was his only Test score more than 50.

Highest batting averages (Min 20 innings, 35.00):

Root is in second place, after Barrington. Kohli and Pujara are next among current players.

Highest strike rates (Minimum 1000 balls faced, 45.00):

Pant has the best strike rate among current players, after Kapil and Sehwag. Buttler and Ashwin are a little below, followed by Bairstow. Many of the higher strike rates are from recent years.

Next we take up

Bowling:

Most wickets (40 and more):

Anderson leads by a large margin over Chandrashekhar. Ashwin and Broad are next among current players.

Chandra has the most 5-fors (8) followed by 6 by Anderson, Ashwin and Botham.

Bedser is the only one with 2 10-fors, which came in his first 2 Tests.

Best innings bowling (includes all 7wi and above):

Nothing much from recent years. The 3 best performances were 50 or more years ago.

Best match bowling (includes all 10wm and above):

While there a few from recent years, such as Ashwin’s 12-for in 2016, we can also note AR (Axar) Patel’s 11-for in 2021 which is the best in any pink-ball Test. Note Bedser’s twin 11-wicket hauls at the start of his career. And JK Lever’s 50 and 10-for on debut.

Best bowling average (Minimum 2000 balls bowled, maximum 35.00):

The bowling averages are headed by Illingworth and JK Lever,

The best economy rates are by Illingworth and Nadkarni

The best strike rates are by JK Lever and Willis.

To be continued.

Kings of the fourth-innings chase (Revised-Sep 2021)-Pt 2

Continued from: https://abn397.wordpress.com/2021/09/24/kings-of-the-fourth-innings-chase-revised-sep-2021-pt-1/

We now look at the bowlers who have been most successful in winning matches in the fourth innings.

Most wickets (35 and above):

Warne leads with 103, followed by late developer Herath and McGrath.

Herath has the most five-fors (11) followed by Muralitharan (7)

Current players are headed by Lyon (68 wickets), Broad and Ashwin.

The most wickets by Indian players are by Ashwin (65), Kumble (51) and Ishant Sharma (45).

Best innings bowling (including all 8wi and above):

The best here is 10-74 by Kumble. (Laker’s 10-wicket haul was in the third innings). Then there is 9-86 by Sarfraz Nawaz which included a spell of 7-1.

The best innings figures in recent times include 8-60 by RL Chase in 2019 and 8-63 by R Herath in 2016.

India is represented by Kumble and debutant Hirwani. (Another famous debutant Bob Massie had bowled in the third innings).

Finally we look at career figures for bowling in the fourth innings of wins:

Best bowling averages in wins in the 4th innings (Minimum 1500 balls bowled):

These are all the 25 bowlers who crossed the cutoff of 1500 balls bowled.

McGrath leads here with 14.24, followed by Herath, Ashwin and Kumble.

The best by current players are Ashwin (16.03), MM Ali, Starc , Ishant Sharma, Broad, Anderson and a few more with 1500+ balls bowled.

The best averages for India are by Ashwin, Kumble, Ishant Sharma, Jadeja and Harbhajan.

The best economy rates are by Illingworth (1.70) and Jadeja

The best strike rates are by Waqar Younis and MM Ali (32.9 with Waqar slightly ahead).