Review of India-Bangladesh Tests

After India’s 2-0 victory, this is the summary of Tests between these teams:

Overall: India leads 11-0 with 2 draws

In India, India leads 3-0 with no draws.

In Bangladesh, India lead 8-0 with 2 draws.

This series was only significant as the second Test was probably the first time that Bangladesh had a significant chance of winning against India.

We now look at individual performances, starting with

Batting:

Most runs (250 or more):

Headed by Tendulkar with Mushfiqur Rahim in second place. Other current players near the top are Pujara and Kohli.

Highest innings (100 or more):

The current series was low-scoring, with only 3 scores above 100 with a top score of 110 by Gill. Zakir Hasan scored 100 on debut, as did Aminul Islam in the first Test between these teams.

The most centuries are 5 by Tendulkar and 3 by Dravid. The most scores of 50+ are 6 by Pujara and 5 by Tendulkar.

There is not enough data for meaningful calculation of averages. For Strike Rates, we have this for a minimum of 1000 balls faced.

We can see that Tendulkar has a big lead over the second-placed Mushfiqur.

Now for’

Bowling:

Most wickets (8 or more):

Zaheer Khan has a big lead over the second-placed I Sharma. Shakib (21 wkts) has the most for Bangladesh.

The most instances of 5wi are 3 by Pathan and 2 by Zaheer Khan. These two are also the only ones to take 10wms.

Best innings bowling (5wi or better):

Note Naimur Rehman’s performance in the first Test between these countries, which remains the best innings bowling for Bangladesh.

Best match bowling (including all cases of 8wm or better):

Note that no Bangladeshi bowler has taken more than 7 wickets in a match.

There is not enough data to get meaningful data for bowling averages etc.

Fielding:

Most dismissals (8 or more):

Led by Dhoni with Karthik and others close behind. Dravid has the most catches by a fielder. Mushfiqur and Pant.

represent the current players.

Most innings dismissals (4 or more):

Led by Dhoni and Mushfiqur.

Most match dismissals (5 or more):

Dhoni has the top position to himself here. SS Das and SC Ganguly have the most catches as fielders.

All-round match performance (50+ and 5wi):

Only one instance, which marked the highlight of SB Joshi’s Test career. This was in the first Test between these teams.

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.

Low Test scores against India-and India’s bowlers

While much has been said about 36 all out in recent days, it should not be forgotten that Indian bowlers have also now become capable of dismissing Test teams for two-digit scores. This did not happen before 1981, and the lowest by anyone against India is 79.

Here we list all Test scores by teams which are 100 or less, and 8 to 10 wickets down.

Note the 80/8 was not an all-out score, but probably would have ended under 100.

We give below details of the Indian bowlers involved, plus other features of interest.

Starting from the top:

SA 79 in 2015-16; I Sharma 0-4, Ashwin 5-32, Jadeja 4-33, A Mishra 1-9

NZ 80/8 in 1964-65; Desai 1-18, Jaisimha 1-4, Chandrasekhar 3-25, Durani 2-16, Venkataraghavan 1-10.

(NZ narrowly escaped defeat after they had dismissed India for 88 and made them follow on. But Sardesai had other ideas and made his maiden century of 200*)

SL 82 in 1989-90; Kapil 1-14, Prabhakar 1-27, V Raju 6-12, G Sharma 1-26.

(The only Test played at Chandigarh).

Aus 83 in 1980-81; Ghavri 2-10, S Patil 0-5, Doshi 2-53, Kapil 5-28)

(The first time an Indian team dismissed the opposition in a Test for under 100, and they squared the series with this unexpected win. India’s next win in Australia came in 2003-04.)

SA 84 in 2006-07; Zaheer 2-32, Sreesanth 5-40, VRV Singh 1-8, Kumble 2-2

(Probably the high point of Sreesanth’s Test career. This was India’s first win in SA).

BD 91 in 2000-01; Srinath 3-19, Zaheer 1-20, Agarkar 2-16, S Joshi 3-27, M Kartik 1-1

(Bangladesh’s first Test. However, they had made 400 in the first innings).

Aus 93 in 2004-05; Zaheer 1-14, Harbhajan 5-29, M Kartik 3-32, Kumble 1-5

(Australia failed to chase 107, though India won a dead Test and lost the series 2-1.)

NZ 94 in 2002-03; Zaheer 5-29, Yohannan 0-16, Nehra 2-20, Bangar 0-4, Harbhajan 2-20

(India still lost this Test. They had made 99 in the first innings.)

NZ 100 in 1980-81; Kapil 4-34, R Binny 2-26, Shastri 3-9, S Patil 1-12, K Azad 0-5

(India lost this Test. Shastri took 3-9 on debut, which included 3 wickets in 4 balls.)

WI 100 in 2019; I Sharma 3-31, Bumrah 5-7, Jadeja 0-42, Shami 2-13.

(India reduced WI to 50/9 before Roach (38) and M Cummins (19*) doubled the score.)

The Indian tail also wags

Data as of 14 Oct 2019:

Having seen how batsmen of no 8 and below have fared against India, we see how India’s tailend batsmen have done in Tests:

Innings of 90 and above by Indian batsmen at No 8 and below:

Dhoni and Ashwin are among the main contributors here. It is often forgotten that Saha has scored centuries (also two more while batting at 7 or higher).

There are relatively few newcomers here. RH Shodhan is the only debutant here, while Ratra, Ashwin and Pandya made their centuries at the start of their career. J Yadav soon dropped out of the Test reckoning. Kumble and Harbhajan made their centuries at a late stage of their careers.

It should be noted that Kapil usually batted at 7 or higher.

We now look at averages of those batting at 8 and below, subject to a minimum of 10 innings:

Dhoni expectedly has the highest average, while Saha is surprisingly second and Prabhakar third. Prabhakar also played many of his matches higher in the order.

Sandhu seems to have been better as a batsman than a bowler during his brief career. He still holds the record of the highest score by a debutant (71) at no 9.

Dhoni, Kapil, Ashwin and Harbhajan all have two centuries here. The most 50+ scores are by Kapil (15), Harbhajan (11) and Jadeja (10). Harbhajan did make rapid progress as a batsman since his debut.

Kumble has over 2000 runs here, while Kapil and several others have over a thousand. Saha, Ashwin and Jadeja are among the current players here.

Finally we look at century partnerships for the 8th to 10th wicket:

There are some large partnerships here, some of which were in a losing cause (such as the one between Azhar and Kumble). One which was significant was the 122 by Prasanna and Sardesai, which helped India to impose the follow-on on the West Indies and gain a psychological advantage which lasted till the end of the series.

The partnership between Tendulkar (248*) and Zaheer Khan (75) was then the record for the 10th wicket, until Root and Anderson overtook it against India. Both Tendulkar and Zaheer made their highest scores here. Another useful 10th-wicket partnership was the one between B Kumar and Shami, in which both scored fifties.

India at the World Cup over the years-2

With India finishing its commitments at the 2019 World Cup, we look at individual performances in all the World Cups from 1975 to 2019.

Batting:

Most runs (500+):

While Kohli is second, he still has less than half the runs scored by Tendulkar. RG Sharma and Dhoni are next among current players.

Tendulkar and RG Sharma each have 6 centuries. Tendulkar also has the most 50+ scores (21), followed by Sharma with 9. Note Sharma’s conversion rate; he scored a century on 6 of the 9 occasions when he crossed 50. And Dhawan did the same on 3 of the 4 occasions!

Highest innings (95+):

This lists all the centuries and near-centuries. No one had scored an ODI century for India until Kapil did so in 1983. Note Gambhir’s 97 in the 2011 final. No one from either India or WI crossed 40 in the 1983 final.

Batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, all instances):

Some like RG Sharma, Gavaskar and Dhawan miss out as they did not play enough WC matches. Dhoni is in the middle of this table.

Strike rates (Minimum 500 balls faced, all instances):

The names at the top are predictable. And that Dhoni and Kohli (?) are in the middle, with Gavaskar and M Amarnath bringing up the rear.

Bowling:

Most wickets (10+):

The top position of 44 wickets is shared by Zaheer Khan and Srinath, with the former bowling significantly less overs. M Shami has the highest among current players.

No one has more than one fiver. M Shami is the only one with 4 four-fors, followed by Srinath and UT Yadav with 2 each.

Best innings bowling (including all instances of 4+ wickets):

The best figures here are by A Nehra (the only 6-for). The highest among current players is 4-16 by M Shami. His 4-40 including a hat-trick is further down.

Bowling averages (Minimum 1000 balls bowled, all instances):

Zaheer Khan has the best average and best strike-rate, while Kapil Dev has the best economy rate. None of the current bowlers have played enough.

Fielding:

Most dismissals (10+):

Dhoni has more than twice the dismissals of the next man Dravid, while regular keeper KS More has the same number of dismissals.

Dhoni has the most dismissals (42), stumpings (8), and catches by a keeper (34). Kohli and Kumble have the most catches by non-keepers (14).

Most dismissals in an innings (3+):

The most dismissals are by Kirmani and Mongia (5 apiece). M Kaif has the most (4) by a non-keeper. He held this World Cup record from 2003 to 2015, when others also took 4 catches in an innings.

Best dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, all instances):

Dhoni is the highest, followed by Dravid who kept in most of his WC matches. Kohli and Sehwag have the most among non-keepers.

All-round performance:

Overall (see criteria in table):

Kapil is the only one from India to reach this standard. Imran and Kallis also reached this, although Botham and Hadlee did not.

Match performance (30 runs and 3 wickets):

Yuvraj is here in his purple patch leading to the Man of the Series award in 2011. He and Shakib are the only ones with 50/5 in the World Cup. Next best is Kapil’s in 1983, although it ended in a defeat.

 

 

 

A summary of India-Ireland cricket

Here is the short, short history of T20Is between India and Ireland:

The match in England in 2009 was during the T20 World Chapionship.

And here is the equally short history of ODIs between these teams:

The 2011 and 2015 matches were in the course of the World Cups.

Apart from these matches, India played South Africa in a bilateral series called the Future Cup in 2007, winning 2-1:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/series/index.html?season=2007;view=season

A quick look at T20I records between these teams:

Highest innings:

Best innings bowling:

Best innings fielding:

Allround performance: 20 runs and 2 wickets in a match:

No instances.

India has visited Ireland a number of times in the past, as the usual practice has been to tag on short visits to Ireland whenever there is a major tour of England. Most of these matches have been one or two day matches which have neither List A nor first-class status.

India’s maiden tour of England in 1932 seems to have included matches against almost all the counties as well as other teams, but did not include a visit to Ireland.

However, India did play one first-class match against Ireland in 1936. The scorecard is worth recalling as it captures the essence of that tour:

http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1930S/1936/IND_IN_ENG/IND_IRELAND_09-11JUL1936.html

Points to note:

Vizzy captained in this match and made his customary single digit score.

Lala Amarnath did not play.

India won by 10 wickets, thanks mainly to CK Nayudu (7wi and 10wm) and Merchant (71*).