Boucher has the most dismissals (42), just ahead of Dhoni (41).
However Dhoni has the most stumpings (11).
The most catches by a keeper are by Boucher (40) followed by Dhoni (30).
The most catches by a fielder is by Kohli (23) followed by GC Smith (19). Also note de Villers who had 8 catches as keeper, 1 stumping and 8 catches as fielder.
Most dismissals in an innings (3 or more):
Boucher is the only one with 5 dismissals. Several others have 4, including GC Smith and T Bavuma as fielders. Bavuma’s 4 catches came in the 3rd match of this series.
India lost the 2021-22 series 3-0, in stark contrast to the previous series in 2017-18 when India had WON 5-1 against South Africa in the last series there in 2017-18.
At the end of the 2021-22 series in SA, the complete results were:
We can see that SA has done much better at home, while India has done better at home as well as in neutral venues.
We now look at individual performances, starting with
Batting:
Most runs (500 or more):
Most centuries: 6 by de Villiers and de Kock
Most 50+ scores: 14 by Dravid (no century), followed by 13 from Kallis, Kirsten and Tendulkar.
In the above table, Tendulkar is the only one to score 2000 runs, followed by Kallis who is the only other one to score over 1500 runs.
The most by current players are by Kohli (1400+), de Kock (1000+) and Dhawan (900+) RG Sharma is further down.
Highest innings (110 or more):
The highest scores are 200* by Tendulkar and 160* by Kohli. The highest by an SA player is 135 by de Kock.
Current players with the highest scores include Kohli, RG Sharma, Dhawan and de Kock.
The highest scores in the 2022 series were by vd Dussen (129*), de Kock (124) and Bavuma (110)
Batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, all instances):
Kirsten and Kallis have the highest averages, a little ahead of Kohli. Dhawan and RG Sharma are next among current players, with DA Miller near the bottom.
Batting strike rates (Minimum 500 balls faced, all instances):
de Villers tops this list, with Sehwag some distance behind. Dhawan has the highest strike rate among current players, followed by de Kock, Rahane (!), Kohli and RG Sharma.
Now for
Bowling:
Most wickets (15 or more):
The most 4wi are by YS Chahal and LL Tsotsobe (3 each).
No one has taken 5wi more than once.
Pollock (48) and Donald (46) have taken the most wickets, while the best for India is by Kumble (46).
YS Chahal (22), Bumrah, Rabada and B Kumar are the highest wicket-takers among current players.
Best innings bowling (including all 4wi or more):
SB Joshi’s 5-6 was the high point of his short career. The best by current players are by YS Chahal (2018, 2018 and 2019), I Sharma, Rabada and Ngidi. But no one took more than 3wi in the 2022 series.
Best bowling averages (Minimum 1000 balls bowled, all instances):
Headed by Donald and Pollock, with V Prasad the best for India.
No current players here.
While the best bowling averages are by Donald and Pollock, the best economy rates are by Kumble and Pollock and the best strike rates are again by Donald and Pollock.
The series in 2021-22 resulted in a 2-1 win for South Africa, after India won the first Test. India has failed to win a Test series in SA, although they have won at least one series in all other countries. The best India has done there is an 1-1 draw in 2010-11. The 2021-22 series followed the pattern of 2006-07 where India won the first Test but lost the next two.
Here is an overall summary of Tests between these two countries:
SA leads India 17-15 overall. Both sides appear to have strong home advantages.
We now look at individual performances, starting with
Batting:
Most runs (500 or more):
Led by Tendulkar and Kallis.
These two have the most centuries (7)
Amla, Kallis and Tendulkar have the most 50+ scores (12).
From the above table, the best by current players is 1236 by Kohli, followed by Rahane, Pujara and Elgar with 800+. RG Sharma is further down.
Highest innings (125 or more):
The highest by current players are 254* by Kohli, followed by double centuries by MA Agarwal and RG Sharma. But no one crossed 125 in this series.
Highest batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, all instances):
Kallis has the highest average, followed by Kohli at some distance. Other current players here are Rahane, Elgar and Pujara.
Highest strike rates (Minimum 1000 balls faced, all instances):
Sehwag and Azharuddin lead here. Among current players there are RG Sharma (in 3rd place), Kohli and Rahane. Also note Dravid at the bottom of this list.
Bowling performances:
Most wickets (12 or more):
Led Kumble, followed by Steyn and Srinath at a distance. Ashwin (56) has the most by a current player, followed by Shami, Rabada and Jadeja. Also note M Jansen with 19 in his debut series.
The most 5-fors are 5 by Steyn and Ashwin. No one has taken more than one 10-for.
Best innings bowling (includes all 6wi and more):
The best performance was an 8-for by Klusener on his debut.
Current players here include SN Thakur, Ashwin and Ngidi.
Thakur’s 7-61 in this series is the best for India against SA, surpassing the earlier record of 7-66 by Ashwin (Nagpur, 2015) and 7-120 by Harbhajan (Cape Town, 2011) which was India’s best in SA.
Best match performances (includes all 8wm and more):
Led by Ashwin and Donald with 12-fors, and 10-fors by Steyn, Pollock and V Prasad.
Current players here include Ashwin, Jadeja and Ngidi.
Best bowling averages (Minimum 2000 balls bowled, all instances):
Headed by Donald and Jadeja (!) Current players here include Jadeja, Shami, Ashwin and Rabada.
India won the 2-Test series 1-0. The summary of all Tests between these teams is
Both sides have considerable home advantage.
The neutral Test at Southampton in 2021 is India’s only neutral Test.
The second Test has a host of records, including the lowest total against India (62) and India’s highest innings margin (372 runs). Both these records were earlier held by South Africa in their series in 2015. These previous records were 79 at Nagpur and 337 runs at Delhi.
Here we concentrate on individual records, starting with Batting:
Dravid has the most centuries (6). He and Tendulkar have 12 scores of 50+
Most runs (750 and above):
Dravid and Tendulkar head this list. R Taylor has the most runs (890) among current players, with Williamson, Pujara and Kohli bunched together after that.
Highest innings (175 and above):
The highest score in recent years is Kohli’s 211 in 2016.
Highest averages (Minimum 20 innings, all instances):
Note that Dravid’s average is much higher that that of the second-placed Dowling.
Kohli and Pujara have the highest averages among current players.
Highest strike rates (Minimum 1000 balls faced, all instances):
Taylor and Kohli have the highest SRs among current players.
Now for individual Bowling records:
Most wickets (25 and above):
R Ashwin with 66 wickets moved just ahead of Sir Richard Hadlee with 65. Next highest among current players is TG Southee (52).
Ashwin has the most 5-fors (6) and 10-fors (3).
Best innings bowling (including all 7wi and above):
AY Patel now has the record, moving ahead of Venkataraghavan’s 8-for in 1965.
Best match bowling (including all 10wm and above):
AY Patel again, who moved ahead of R Ashwin’s 13-140 in 2016.
Bowling averages (Minimum 2000 balls bowled, all instances):
R Ashwin has the best average with 15.43. The next among current players is TG Southee with 24.69.
The best economy rates are 1.52 by RG Nadkarni (who else?) and 1.68 by BS Bedi.
The best strike rates are 35.7 by R Ashwin followed by 46.9 by TG Southee.
The W/L ratio is headed by Nepal (!) who won 2 of their 3 matches.
Among those who played 10 or more matches, the highest W/L ratios are by Sri Lanka (1.80), India (1.77) and South Africa (1.69). The 2021 finalists are a little lower: Australia (1.57) and New Zealand (1.33)
Now for individual performances in Batting:.
Most runs (500 and above):
Gayle might still be there in 2022 to overtake MJ’s record aggregate. The next highest among the current players are RG Sharma (847), V Kohli (845) and DA Warner (762).
Highest innings (90 and above):
Gayle is the only one with 2 centuries.
In 2021 there was one century (Buttler) and a 90 (van der Dussen).
Raina is the only Indian player who has made a score above 90.
The most 50+ scores are 10 by Kohli (no centuries), 9 by Gayle (including 2 centuries) and 8 by RG Sharma (no centuries).
Batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, all instances):
Buttler now heads this table. Next among current players are RG Sharma, Gayle and Shoaib Malik. Kohli is not here as he has played only 19 innings.
Strikerates (Minimum250 ballsfaced, 125.00 and above):
Afridi leads by a large margin over the runners-up Pietersen and Buttler. Other current players here are Gayle,Warner and RG Sharma.
Note: MS Dhoni captained India in all the 33 matches from 2007 to 2016.
V Kohli captained India in all the 5 matches in 2021.
2007 in SA: India won title, winning the final over Pakistan by 5 runs
2009 in Eng: Last 8
2010 in WI: Last 8
2012 in SL: Last 8
2014 in BD: Lost in final to SL by 6 wkts
2016: in Ind: Lost in semi-final to WI by 7 wkts
2021: in UAE/OM: Last 12
The record is not great between 2009 and 2021, though there were promising signs in 2014 and 2016.
Looking at individual performances by India in these matches:
Most runs (90 and above):
Sharma is just ahead of Kohli
Also note: one century by SK Raina, 10 fifties by V Kohli, 8 fifties by RG Sharma.
Most 4s: 80 by RG Sharma, 78 by V Kohli
Most 6s: 33 by Yuvraj Singh, 31 by RG Sharma
Highest innings (50 and above):
Most wickets (8 and above):
R Ashwin leads, which makes his continuous omission surprising. IK Pathan was the MoM in the 2007 final. Strangely, he is the only bowler to be MoM in the finals up to 2016.
Best innings bowling (including all 4wi):
Ashwin leads again. Also note Shami and Jadeja with the same figures in the same innings.
Most dismissals (8 and above):
Dhoni leads, with RG Sharma taking the most catches as a fielder.
Most innings dismissals (3 and above):
Dhoni has the most catches as a keeper, while KD Karthik took 2 stumpings. Raina seems to have been more consistent here.
All-round match performance (20 runs and 2 wkts):
Three roughly equal performances.
Tailpiece: The New Zealand jinx
India has lost all 3 matches against New Zealand, in 2007, 2016 and 2021. In 2007, New Zealand was to only team to defeat the eventual champions India.
The ability to convert fifties into hundreds is useful in Tests, even more than converting centuries into double centuries. The “conversion rate” has not received much attention in statistical studies in the past.
If your career includes a score between 50 and 99 but no century, your conversion rate is 0%
If you have no score between 50 and 99 but one or more centuries, your conversion rate is 100%
Most Test batsmen will fall between these extremes (unless they never crossed 50).
Take Virat Kohli. He has 27 Test innings between 50 and 99. Oddly enough he also has 27 centuries.
So he has crossed 50 a total of 27+27 = 54 times, and has gone past 100 on 27 occasions. This is a conversion rate of (27/54)*100 = 50%.
One more example: Sachin Tendulkar has 68 innings between 50 and 99, besides 51 centuries.
So he crossed 50 a total of 68 + 51 = 119 times. His conversion rate is (51/119)*100 is 42.86%
Similarly, we can find Don Bradman’s conversion rate to be (29/(29+13)*100 = 69.05%
Let us now look at studies of all Test players up to Sep 30, 2021.
There are 56 players who have a 100% conversion rate, who have no score between 50-99 plus one or more centuries. The first few are:
RS Bopara is the only one with 3 centuries without any score between 50 and 99.
The next 5 have made 2 centuries, including Wasti who made both his centuries in the same Test.
And then there are 50 others who crossed 50 only once but went on to make a century, ranging from A Lyth to Yasir Shah. KK Nair has a triple century, while D Lloyd and B Kuruppu have doubles. There are a surprisingly high number of players who scored a century on debut and failed to cross 50 afterwards.
For a short time, Fawad Alam had made 4 centuries without a fifty. The record is by GA Headley of long ago, who made 6 centuries before making a fifty.
After crossing the 56 who have a 100% conversion rate with the help of one century, we get:
(This has a cutoff of 55%)
Fawad Alam leads with 5/6 or 83.33%, followed by JF Reid (of the 1980s) and Azhar Mahmood with 75%.
Current players here are Fawad Alam, Najmul Hussain Shanto, Abid Ali and SC Williams (Zimbabwe).
From India there is only S Dhawan and VG Kambli.
If you take those who have scored 10 or more centuries, only Bradman (69.05%) and Headley (66.67) have crossed 55%. The next few are Walcott (51.72), Azharuddin (51.16) and MJ Clarke (50.91)
Here is a complete list of those who scored 10 or more centuries at a conversion rate of 45% or more:
The only current players in this elite group are Kohli and SPD Smith (and M Hafeez from the recent past).
India is represented by Azharuddin, Kohli, Shastri (!) and Umrigar.
(Note that Hayden’s century and other scores in the ICC XI v Aus Test in 2005 have not been counted).
Let us look more closely at current players with 10+ centuries and conversion rates 35+
V Kohli 50.00
SPD Smith 46.55
DA Warner 44.44
Mominul Haque 44.00
D Elgar 43.33
KS Williamson 42.11
CA Pujara 36.73
LD Chandimal 35.48
TWM Latham 35.48
Azhar Ali 35.29
R Taylor 35.19
Note the absence of JE Root (31.51), BA Stokes (29.41), AM Rahane (33.33) and F du Plessis (32.26)
Certainly this last list has some surprises which contradict common perceptions about the heavy scorers of today.
In Part 2, we will look at the other end of the scale-those with the lowest conversion rates.
No Test matches for a while, so we can do some overall reviews.
Batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, 50.00):
Mr 99.94 is well known, but No 2 has already been forgotten. No 3 is fast closing in on No 2’s 61.87. The only other current player in the top 10 is No 6 with 60.80.
The highest for India is by VG Kambli (!) at 54.20. Something similar to the case of AC Voges.
From India, there are also Tendulkar, Dravid, Gavaskar and Kohli.
Among current players, there are SPD Smith, M Labuschagne, KS Williamson, V Kohli and JE Root (who just manages 50+).
In following posts we will look at batting averages across innings.
Kohli’s golden duck in the first Test is attracting attention. Let us look at the long relationship of Indian captains and ducks.
First, the summary of all ducks scored by Indian Test captains:
These are arranged in order of ducks scored in the entire career as captain. (See the last column).
Did you notice that Kohli has crept ahead of Dhoni’s record of captaining India in 58 Tests?
Kohli, Dhoni and Pataudi have the most ducks. While Ganguly, Azharuddin and Gavaskar captained in more Tests than Pataudi, they had considerably less ducks.
Pankaj Roy is one who scored a duck in his only Test as captain.
NJ Contractor played the most Tests (12) without ever making a duck.
Vizianagaram oddly enough did not make a duck in 3 Tests although his batting average was only 3.50
Now for golden ducks:
Kohli has the most (3) while a few others have 2.
Now for silver ducks (out 2nd ball):
Kohli has 2 along with Pataudi and Bedi, while Dhoni has 3. Bedi in fact had a pair of silver ducks, which one may call a “queen pair” to match the king pair for one who is out first ball in each innings. That was during John Lever’s unique debut (50 +10wm).
Finally, bronze (brazen?) ducks (out 3rd ball):
Dhoni has 2, while Pankaj Roy had one in his only Test as captain.
With this 2-1 victory, India continued its dominance of bilateral ODI series against Sri Lanka. The last such series in Sri Lanka in Aug 2017 was a 5-0 win by India (with similar results in Tests and T20Is).
Sri Lanka has never won an ODI bilateral series in India.
Overall summary of results:
Trivia note: the first ODI between these teams was won by Sri Lanka in the 1979 World Cup.
Batting:
1000 and more runs:
Also see that the most centuries are 8 each by Kohli and Tendulkar, and the most 50+ scores are 25 by Tendulkar and 24 by Sangakkara.
The highest total by those who played in this series is 1111 by Dhawan, although Kohli has the most by current players.
Highest innings (120 and more):
While the world record of 264 remains with RG Sharma, there is no other century in this series.
Batting averages (Min 20 innings and 25.00):
Kohli is second here followed by other current players such as Mathews and RG Sharma. But no one who played in this series is here.
Strike rates (Minimum 500 balls faced, 75.00):
S Dhawan is second on this list, and is the only one here who played in the current series. RG Sharma and Kohli follow him.
Bowling:
Most wickets (20 and above):
The only one with two five-fors is RR Singh. The only only one with 4 four-fors is BAW Mendis. I. Sharma is among those with 3.
The only one on this list who played in the current series is B Kumar at the bottom.
Best innings bowling (including all 5wi and above):
No such instance from this series, although Bumrah and B Kumar are there from earlier series.
Bowling averages (Minimum 1000 balls bowled, all instances):
Among current and near-current players, there are Mathews, T Perera and R Jadeja.
The best averages are by Agarkar and BAW Mendis.
The best economy rates are by Kapil and Harbhajan.
The best strike rates are by Agarkar and I Sharma.
Fielding:
Most dismissals (15 and above):
Dhoni has the most catches and stumpings. The most catches by a non-keeper are by M Jayawardene.
Most dismissals in innings (4 and above):
Dhoni is the only one with 5 dismissals, while M Kaif is the only non-keeper with 4 catches. Saha is the only other keeper from recent times.
Best dismissal rate (minimum 20 innings, 0.400)
Dhoni again leads here, while Kohli has the best among current players.
All-round performance:
Overall (see criteria in table):
Somewhat unexpectedly, Mathews and IK Pathan turn out to be the best all-rounders here.
Match (30 runs and 3 wickets):
The best performances here are by Ganguly, RR Singh, Thushara and Prabhakar.
GC Smith has the most Tests, so it is not surprising that he has the most wins (53) Next are Ponting (47) and S Waugh (41). One can see (from the last column) that S Waugh, Bradman and Ponting have the highest win percentage.
The most wins by Indian captains are 36 (Kohli, 5th overall), 27 by Dhoni (10th ) and 21 by Ganguly (19th).
Current captains here are Kohli (36), Root (26), and Williamson (22).
Most losses (13 and above):
GC Smith again heads this list, closely followed by SP Fleming and Lara who led relatively weak teams.
The highest by Indian captains are 19 by Pataudi (11th overall), 18 by Dhoni (12th) and 15 by Kohli (19th). Also 14 by Azharuddin and 13 by Ganguly.
Current captains here are Root (19), Kohli (15) and BRM Taylor (13).
Most draws (13 and above):
Headed by Border (39), Gavaskar (30) and GC Smith (27).
For India the highest are 30 by Gavaskar (2nd overall), 23 by Kapil (8th) and 19 by Azharuddin (11th). Also 15 by Ganguly.
No current captains here. The most recent is AN Cook (13) who finished his term of captaincy in 2016.
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