Flashback: When Virat met Kane in 2008

They first met as opposing captains in another semi-final long ago in Kuala Lumpur in February 2008, when India won by 3 wkts (by D/L):

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8368/scorecard/317005/india-under-19s-vs-new-zealand-under-19s-semi-final-icc-under-19-world-cup-2007-08

Future internationals in this match included Worker, Williamson, Southee, CJ Anderson and Boult from NZ and Kohli, SS Tiwary, MK Pandey and Sir Ravindra Jadeja (though he was a minor nobleman at that time) from India.

In the other semi-final SA won against Pak.

In the final, Ind won against SA by 12 runs (again by D/L):

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8368/scorecard/317016/india-under-19s-vs-south-africa-under-19s-final-icc-under-19-world-cup-2007-08

SA’s future internationals included Rossouw, Reza Hendricks and Parnell (captain).

ODIs between India and Pakistan-1

It seems unlikely that there will be any bilateral series between India and Pakistan for quite some time. It has already been decided that India will not play Pakistan in the group stages of the World Test Championship.

So this seems to be a good time to look back at the records of ODIs between India and Pakistan (not just in the World Cup).

Of a total of 132 ODIs between the sides, India has won 55, Pakistan 73, no ties and No Result 4.

In India: 30 matches; Ind 11, Pak 19.

In Pakistan: 27 matches; Ind 11, Pak 14, NR 2.

In Neutral venues: 75 matches; Ind 33, Pak 40, NR 2.

Looking at individual figures:

Batting:

500 or more runs:

Headed by the older players who had more opportunities to play these matches. Among current players there is Shoaib Malik (1782) and MS Dhoni (1231).

The most centuries are 5 by Tendulkar, followed by 4 by several others.

The most 50+ scores are also led by Tendulkar with 21. Next is 16 by Inzamam and Dravid.

Highest innings: 110 and more:

Saeed Anwar’s 194 was a record in all ODIs for several years. The highest score in recent years is RG Sharma’s 140 in the current World Cup.

Highest Averages (Minimum 20 innings, 30.00 and above):

A number of current players such as Kohli are not here as they have not played 20 innings. Dhoni and Shoaib Malik have the highest averages among current players.

Highest Strike Rates (Minimum 500 balls faced, 80.00 and above):

Shahid Afridi and Sehwag lead as one would expect. Kohli, Dhoni  and RG Sharma have the highest strike rates among current players.

To be continued:

 

 

Review of India – Aus T20Is-2019

A total of 20 T20Is have been played between India and Australia. Here is the summary of all results:

And the summary of the matches in India:

Considering bilateral matches in a series of at least 2 matches, we see that the 2017 series was drawn 1-1 and this series was won 2-0 by Australia.

Coming to individual performances:

Batting:

100 or more runs:

Kohli is far ahead of the others. Watson and Maxwell are the only ones to score centuries. The most 50+ scores are by Kohli (6 with no centuries) and 3 each by RG Sharma, Watson and Yuvraj.

Highest individual scores (50 and above):

Maxwell’s 113* was the highest for Australia in India, surpassing AJ Finch’s 89 in 2013.

Bowling:

Most wickets (5 and above):

Bumrah has moved into the lead.

Best innings bowling (includes all 3wi and above):

Bumrah’s 3-16 is the best for India at home, surpassing the earlier 3-26 by Vinay Kumar in 2013. The overall best performance was by Ashwin in the 2014 World Championship.

Fielding:

Most dismissals (4 or more dismissals):

Dhoni has the most stumpings and catches by a keeper. Kohli has the most catches by a non-keeper.

Best innings dismissals (2 and above):

All-round performance:

100 runs and 5 wickets:

Clearly they are the best all-rounders in these teams.

Match performance (20 runs and 2 wickets):

Watson’s effort is the best here.

The same teams continue with a 5-match ODI series.

Review of NZ-India ODIs-Feb 2019

India won the series 4-1. The last two ODI series between these teams in New Zealand were in 2013-14 (NZ won 4-0 with 1 tie) and 2008-09 (Ind won 3-1 with 1 NR).

A summary of all ODI results between these teams:

Both sides have a strong home advantage, but they are evenly matched 15-15 in neutral venues.

We start with Batting:

Most runs (500 and above):

The most centuries are 6 by Sehwag and 5 by Tendulkar, Kohli and NJ Astle. The most scores of 50+ are 13 by Tendulkar and 12 by Kohli.

In aggregates, Kohli is now in second position while R Taylor and other current players can be seen here.

Highest individual scores (110 and above):

This has been a relatively low-scoring series with no one scoring above 110. The highest in recent years were 154* by Kohli in 2016 and 147 by Rohit Sharma in 2017. Note that Tendulkar has the two highest scores.

Highest batting averages (Minimum 20 innings and 30.00):

Kohli has a much higher average than the second-placed Sehwag. Dhoni and other current players are also found here.

Highest strike rates (Minimum 500 balls and 70.00):

Sehwag and Kapil are close together. Kohli, Latham and other current players are found here. It can be seen that R Taylor has a better average and strike rate against India compared to Williamson.

Bowling:

Most wickets (20 and above):

While several have taken 2 4-wicket hauls, no one has more than one 5wi. Srinath has taken considerably more wickets than the second-placed Kumble. The current players Southee, Boult and Shami are moving up.

Best innings bowling (including all instances of 5wi):

The only 6-wicket haul is by SE Bond who played in only a few ODIs against India. Boult’s 5-21 is the second best for NZ against Ind and the best at home, just surpassing the 5-22 by AR Adams in 2003. There was no other 5-wicket haul in this series.

Best bowling averages (Minimum 1000 balls, all cases):

Srinath and Hadlee have the best averages. The best economy rates are by Hadlee and Kapil, and the best strike rates are by Srinath and Nehra. Current bowlers from either side do not appear here.

Fielding:

Most dismissals (10 and above):

The lesser-known NR Mongia has the most dismissals followed by Dhoni and McCullum. Mongia also has the most stumpings. McCullum has the most catches by a keeper, just ahead of Mongia and Dhoni.

Note the dual role of Dravid. The most catches by a non-keeper are 18 by Fleming and R Taylor. A few other current players can be found here.

Most innings dismissals (4 and above):

McCullum (2003) is the only one with 5 catches as a keeper, with others having 4. D Karthik is the only one to take 4 catches in the current series.

Rutherford, Harris and R Taylor each have 4 catches as non-keepers.

Highest dismissal rates (Minimum 20 innings, 0.500):

Mongia has by far the highest rate here, with Vengsarkar having the best by a non-keeper.

All-round performances (Overall, see criterion):

The “bits-and-pieces” all-rounder CZ Harris is the only one who meets this criteria, while the better-known Kapil and Hadlee do not seem to have done well in these matches.

Match performances (30 runs and 3wi):

The unheralded all-rounder K Srikkanth has the best performance here. CL Cairns, NJ Astle and YK Pathan also have good performances. It is odd that Kapil does not appear here, although the Pathan brothers do and CL Cairns is the only one to feature here twice.

 

 

Summary of India’s tours to Australia

This was India’s first victory in a Test series in Australia, in 12 Test series going back to 1947-48.

This was India’s first victory in a bilateral ODI series in Australia. This was only the second such series, Australia having won the first in 2015-2016.

If you count ODI series with more than 3 teams, India had won the Commonwealth Bank series in 2007-08, where Australia was the losing finalist and Sri Lanka was the third participant.

And there was the B & H World Championship in 1984-85, where Pakistan was the losing finalist and all 7 Test teams of that period took part. India won all 5 of their matches, and the series was immortalized by Shastri’s Audi.

India did not win this T20I series, which was drawn 1-1 with one “no result”. However India had won the only other 3-match series in 2015-16 3-0. That was the only time that a visiting team had made a clean sweep of any series in Australia in a series of 3 or more matches in ANY format of cricket.

The worst defeat for Australia at home would appear to be England’s 2-0 victory in the 1886-87 Test series. Or perhaps England’s 5-1 victory against a Packerized team in 1978-79.

To put it differently, this was the first time that Australia failed to win a series in ANY format of cricket during a tour. Perhaps they will have better luck with Sri Lanka in the latter half of their season. Sri Lanka is to play 2 Tests and no other matches.

While many teams have separate captains for Tests, ODIs and T20Is, India had Virat Kohli as captain in all 3 formats.His counterpart was TD Paine in Tests and AD Finch in ODIs and T20Is.

Review of England-India T20Is (July 2018)

After the bilateral series in July 2018 which was won by India 2-1, a total of 14 T20Is had been played between these teams. The last bilateral series in India in early 2017 was also won 2-1 by India. Each team has won 7 matches.

In England, England lead 4-2. (India won their first two matches in England during this series).

In India, both teams have won 3 matches.

In neutral venues, India lead 2-0.

Batting (Aggregate 100 or more runs):

Kohli is far ahead of others. Also note that Dhoni has played all 14 of these matches while Raina has played 13.

Highest innings (60 or more):

Rahul and RG Sharma both surpassed the existing record of 71 which was shared by Morgan and Rahul.

Bowling: Most wickets (5 and above):

YS Chahal continues to lead.

Best innings bowling (3wi and above):

Kuldeep Yadav’s 5-24 is the best by either side in England, though surpassed by Chahal’s 6-25 in India in the last series.

Fielding: Most dismissals (5 and above):

Dhoni has the most dismissals (6 catches and 6 stumpings) while Kohli has the most (9) catches by a non-keeper.

Most dismissals in an innings (3 and above):

Dhoni’s 5 dismissals is a share in the world T20I record and his 5 catches is also a record.

We now make a side trip into fielding records in all T20Is:

Most dismissals (50 and above):

Dhoni is followed at some distance by de Villiers and Kamran Akmal.

Dhoni also has the most catches by a keeper and most stumpings.

Most innings dismissals (4 and above):

While Dhoni shares the record of 5 dismissals in an innings with M. Shahzad, his 5 catches in the 3rd match are a record in all T20Is. Several non-keepers have taken 4 catches in an innings.

Lastly, we see overall all-round performances in England-India T20Is:

Pandya would have the best record here.

All-round match performances:

Here too Pandya has the best performance.

 

 

 

Test batting averages across innings

There is often a significant difference in how batsmen perform in different innings. This is apparent when we look at those with the highest averages in Tests (for those who have batted in at least 20 innings).

Data is correct up to April 3, 2018. The ICC XI v Aus Test of 2005 is not counted.

First we look at the averages for Tests as a whole, for a minimum of 20 innings vatted across innings;

Highest batting averages in Tests (50 and above):

You do not need to be reminded about the man with 99.94. The next two are also well known in recent years. Some, like Kambli, are lucky to scrape through. Other contemporary players listed above include Kohli, Root, Younis Khan, de Villiers, Pujara and Williamson.

Most of those who are generally regarded as great batsmen are here-even though some like H Sutcliffe, GE Tyldesley and CA Davis never made a double century.

Now we look at the different innings. The 20-innings cutoff is applied in each case.

Highest batting averages in first innings of Tests (55 and above):

Bradman and Steve Smith are still in the top 3, but then there is considerable variation. Hassett and Azhar Ali averaged less than 50 in all innings but did much better in the first innings. Voges, Graeme Pollock and Headley did not play enough Tests. Barrington and Weekes seemed to have particularly relished batting in the first innings.

Contemporary players here include Steve Smith, Azhar Ali, Pujara, Ross Taylor, du Plessis, Root and a few others.

Moving on to the second innings.

Highest batting averages in second innings of Tests (55 and above):

Bradman is still at the top, followed relatively closely by Kohli. Other contemporary players include Steve Smith, Williamson, Root, de Villiers, Younis Khan and AN Cook. Tendulkar just scrapes through the 55-mark, some distance behind Gavaskar who did not do too well in the first innings.

Now to the third innings.

Highest batting averages in third innings of Tests (50 and above):

Bradman now drops out of the table altogether, with May and Kallis taking the two top spots. Here the differences between the top players are comparatively smaller. Contemporary players here are headed by Amla and Azhar Ali.

Finally the fourth innings, where survival skills are particularly important:

Highest batting averages in fourth innings of Tests (40 and above):

As we can see, it is as difficult to average 40 here as it is to average 50 overall. Boycott, Gavaskar and Hobbs are bunched together at the top. And some like Bradman did not need to do much in the fourth innings as they and their teams generally scored enough in the first and second innings. Some, such as Ranatunga, Misbah and Hutton did not even score centuries in the fourth innings and probably benefited by a number of not-out innings.

Contemporary players here include Younis Khan, AD Mathews, Misbah-ul-Haq, Warner, Ross Taylor and Mohammad Hafeez.

Comparison of centuries made in different innings will be taken up next.