T20Is between India and Ireland

A total of 5 such matches have been played between these teams:

India has won all 5 of them, including the first one in 2009 which was part of the T20 World Championship.

Most of these matches were one-sided, apart from the one on Jun 28.

A quick look at major statistical achievements:

Most runs (80 and more):

Newcomer DJ Hooda has the most runs. HT Tector also did well among newcomers, and has the most runs for Ireland.

Highest innings (60 and more):

Hooda leads here as well, surpassing RG Sharma again. Tector again has the highest score for Ireland.

Most wickets (4 and more):

YS Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav lead here.

Best innings bowling (3wi and more):

Zaheer Khan still leads with his figures from the first match. From this series the best was Adair’s 3-42 in the last match.

Most dismissals (3 or more):

Four players have 3 dismissals each, Dhoni and Tucker as keepers with Dockrell and Thompson as non-keepers.

Most innings dismissals (2 and more):

Thompson and Tucker have 3 dismissals apiece, which are the highest for non-keepers and keepers respectively.

All-round (20 and 2wi in the same match):

The only instance is by MR Adair in the last match, though it was not enough to win.

The Test debutants of 2018

The last of a series of reviews of Test cricket in 2018. Here we identify the good performances on Test debut.

Batting:

40 runs or more in an innings:

3 centuries headed by PP Shaw, and numerous other 50s.

There are several instances of 40+ in both innings, with Fakhar Zaman with 50+ in both innings. This will be seen more clearly here:

80 runs or more in match:

Fakhar Zaman’s 160 shares the second place among those who made two scores between 50 and 99 on debut.

The most is by the lesser-known BM Laird with 167 (Aus v WI, 1979-80) followed by CH Lloyd with 160 (WI v Ind, 1966-67).

Bowling:

3 or more wickets in an innings:

5 instances of fivers, led by Bilal Asif and L Ngidi. Vihari and Bumrah took 3-fors for India. Ireland has TJ Murtagh and SR Thompson in their debut Test, while Yamin Ahmadzai represents Afghanistan on their debut.

6 or more wickets in match:

Dananjaya’s 8-44 is the best for Sri Lanka on debut. The previous record was 8-132 by BAW Mendis (SL v Ind, 2008). Ireland has TJ Murtagh in their debut Test. Bilal Asif took 6 in the first innings and none in the second.

Fielding:

2 or more dismissals in an innings:

RR Pant leads here. His 5 dismissals equaled the record for India, though Yajurvindra Singh was a non-keeper. 3 Indian keepers made 4 dismissals in an innings on debut, all in the 1950s.

3 or more dismissals in a match:

RR Pant leads again with 7 dismissals. No one else has more than 3. MA Agarwal is one of those who took 3 as a non-keeper

Pant’s 7 dismissals equaled the Indian record with non-keeper Yajurvindra Singh. Several Indian keepers took 5 on debut, along with non-keepers RR Singh (only Test) and SS Das.

All-round performances:

30 runs and 3 wickets in match:

3 instances, with probably SR Thompson’s being the best.

30 runs and 3 dismissals:

3 instances, with Foakes being the only keeper and MA Agarwal having the best by a non-keeper. Also note MS Harris’s 26 and 26.