The Rishabh and Rahul show

(Figures as on August 23, 2018)

While Virat Kohli was Man of the Match, the twin fielding feats of Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul played a large part in India’s victory at Nottingham.

First we look at fielding performances on debut, with reference to Rishabh:

Innings fielding on debut:

Rishabh’s 5 dismissals is the best for India on debut by a wicketkeeper, though Yajurvindra had taken 5 as a non-keeper. A few Indian keepers had earlier taken 4 catches in an innings on their debut.

Match fielding on debut:

Here, both Rishabh and Yajurvindra made 7 dismissals on debut. Rishabh’s 7 is the best by any Indian keeper on debut. Some Indian keepers had made 5 dismissals on debut.

Note that Yajurvindra’s 5 in the innings and 7 in the match remain the best by any debutant non-keeper.

We look at fielding performances by non-keepers.

(This is for all matches, not merely on debut).

Innings fielding:

The world record is 5, shared by the fielders listed above. The first to achieve this was VY Richardson, maternal grandfather of the Chappell brothers. Several current and recent players can be seen. KL Rahul is one of many who took 4 catches (in the 4th innings, to add to the 3 he took in the first innings).

Match fielding:

While current player Rahane is the only one to take 8 catches in a match (which, by the way, India lost), KL Rahul is one of several to take 7 catches. Note that no one had taken 7 catches in a match until Greg Chappell in 1974.

 

 

Best innings fielding on Test debut

This is being written in the middle of the 3rd Eng v Ind Test.

These figures may have concerned the player’s first or second innings as  a fielder.

Note the only non-keeper Yajurvindra Singh, who took as many catches as Rishabh Pant.

He had a short career of 4 Tests, as did Maclean.

Emery played only one Test, as he had the misfortune to play in the Healy era.

Six off first ball on debut-and soon vanished

When Rishabh Pant hit his second ball on Test debut for six, the keepers of arcane statistics pointed out that this had only been surpassed by New Zealander Mark Craig, who had done this on his first ball while making his debut in 2014. More importantly, he took 8 wickets in the match and played a major role in one of New Zealand’s rare victories in the West Indies.

See: http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/497543.html

and this extract from Steven Lynch’s column:

“Has anyone hit his first ball in Test cricket for six? And how about his last ball? asked Julian Metcalfe from England
The only player so far to hit the first ball he received in Test cricket for six was the New Zealand offspinner Mark Craig, who cracked Sulieman Benn of West Indies over the long-off boundary in Kingston in June 2014. In the field that day, probably nodding approvingly, was Chris Gayle, who remains the only man to hit the very first ball of a Test match for six – from the debutant Sohag Gazi of Bangladesh in Mirpur in 2012. The only man known to have hit his last ball in Test cricket for six was another West Indian, Wayne Daniel, against Australia in Port-of-Spain in 1984.”

Craig seemed set for a long career, particularly as he soon became one of  the few to make the double of a fifty and ten wickets in a Test during his first year of international cricket.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=start;qualmin1=1;qualmin2=10;qualval1=fifty_plus;qualval2=wickets;template=results;type=allround;view=match

However, his Test career lasted little over two years and he is no longer in contention for the NZ team. Probably this was more because his bowling figures had declined, though he continued to score useful runs in the lower order.

He played 15 Tests and no ODIs and T20Is.

Here you can see his Test career (2014-2016):

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/497543.html?class=1;template=results;type=allround;view=match