Australia heading for another world record

The win against India today was Australia's 15th in a row since the Melbourne Test against South Africa in December 2005 when it registered a 184-run win. Australia is now heading for world record of most consecutive wins in Test cricket. The current record is of 16 consecutive wins also held by Australia between 1999 and 2001.
Interestingly Australia's victory march was interrupted by India last time. So, it will be interesting to see if India can stop them once again from achieving a new high.

Most consecutive wins in Test cricket
Mts For          Period      Captain (at start)
16  Australia    1999-2001   Steve Waugh
15* Australia    2005-2007   Ricky Ponting
11  West Indies  1984        Clive Lloyd
 9  Sri Lanka    2001-2002   Sanath Jayasuriya
 9  South Africa 2002-2003   Mark Boucher

*- unbroken sequence

UPDATE - With the 122-run win at Sydney Australia has equalled the World Record of most consecutive wins

India's largest defeats in Test cricket

Australia today handed India its third biggest defeat in Test matches. It was the sixth time India was losing a Test by 300 runs margin. Interestingly three of India's six biggest defeats have come against Australia. Also, all of these defeats have come after 1990.

Opponent      Margin      Venue     Season        Captain
Australia     342 runs    Nagpur    2004-05       Rahul Dravid
Pakistan      341 runs    Karachi   2005-06       Rahul Dravid
Australia     337 runs    Melbourne 2007-08       Anil Kumble
South Africa  329 runs    Kolkata   1996-97       Sachin Tendulkar
South Africa  328 runs    Durban    1996-97       Sachin Tendulkar
Australia     300 runs    Perth     1991-92       M Azharuddin

Note: India lost to West Indies at Kolkata in 1958-59 by innings and 336 runs, which remains India's largest ever innings defeat.

The "real" difference between two teams in Melbourne Test

This is how the openers, middle order batsmen and lower-order batsmen of the two sides performed in the Melbourne Test. The middle-order of both sides had almost identical success or failure depending upon how you perceive it.It was the performance of the openers (and to some extent lower order) that made all the difference in the end.

 
               Openers 
           Balls Runs   Avg    SR 
Australia   448   288  72.00  50.89 
India       247    40  10.00  16.19 
     
             Middle Order (3-7) 
           Balls Runs   Avg    SR 
Australia   475   275  27.50  57.89 
India       478   244  24.40  51.04 
     
            Lower Order (8-11) 
           Balls  Runs  Avg    SR 
Australia   183    99  33.00  54.09 
India       163    52   8.66  31.90 

Slowest batting displays by Indian batsmen in a match

Rahul Dravid is continuing with his new found affection for the stonewalling. After getting support from Indian thinktank which did not find anything wrong with Dravid's first innings effort of scoring 5 runs off 66 balls, Dravid produced another gem in the second innings, scoring 16 in 114 balls. He might have tried to even 'better' his first innings performance, but an edge through gully -almost caught by diving Clarke- gave him a boundary and distorted his figures somewhat.

In all Dravid scored 21 runs in the match off 180 balls in more than four hours' stay at the wicket - a strike rate of 11.66. Dravid's performance is infact the third worst by any Indian in a match (batting in both the innings and facing at least 100 balls in the match). In fact three out of six worst performances for India have come from Dravid's bat only.

The following table lists the worst batting performances by Indian players in a match:

SR        Batsman           
10.41   RJ Shastri (15)       v South Africa,Port Elizabeth,1992-93
11.01   ML Jaisimha (13)   v Australia,Sydney,1967-68
11.66   R Dravid (21)          v Australia,Melbourne,2007-08
13.72   AD Gaekwad (14)   v England,Lord's,1979
15.75   R Dravid (23)          v Australia,Nagpur,2004-05
15.86   R Dravid (23)          v Australia,Melbourne,1999-00
16.04   RJ Shastri (30)       v South Africa,Johannesburg,1992-93
16.42   CPS Chauhan (23)  v England,Kanpur,1972-73
16.50   SM Patil (17)           v England,Kolkata,1981-82
17.39   KS More (20)          v Australia,Brisbane,1991-92

Stonewalling at its best!

Ghosts of the Oval Test returned back to haunt Rahul Dravid today, who made a tortured 5 off 66 balls at Melbourne while opening the Indian innings.

At Oval in 2007 Dravid batted on the fourth day in a manner as if he was trying to save the game for India, forgetting that it was actually England (and not India) who was 319 runs behind! Dravid batted for 140 minutes on that day scoring a painful 12, which virtually grabbed India a draw from the jaws of victory. Dravid's batting at Melbourne today was no different from his Oval's effort as he managed a meagre 5 after struggling for about 98 minutes on the crease. He was perhaps trying to fetch India a draw, forgetting that it is only the second day of the match!

It was only after spending 64 minutes on the crease today that Dravid finally managed to open his account (off the 41st delivery he faced). Where does Dravid's performance stand? There have been quite a few 'better' performances than Dravid's today's stonewalling. New Zealand's Geoff Allott once batted for 101 minutes and still failed to open his account. But most of such performances came from lower order batsmen who had no or very little batting abilities or were batting under tremendous pressure. So, they can't really be blamed for their slow scoring. Dravid's performance is the fourth worst performance in entire Test history if we take into consideration the performances of the specialist batsmen only.

Longest wait in opening the account

Mins Batsman
70... Bill Murdoch (Aus)..... v England,Sydney,1882-83
67... Chris Tavare (Eng)..... v Pakistan,Lord's,1982
66... John Wright (NZ)........ v Australia,Wellington,1981-82
64... Rahul Dravid (Ind)...... v Australia,Melbourne,2007-08
63... Chris Tavare (Eng)...... v Australia,Perth,1982-83
62... Mark Taylor (Aus)....... v England,Sydney,1994-95

100 Test Heroes

Sourav Ganguly today became only the seventh Indian to complete century of Test matches.Interestingly he is the oldest among Indians to accomplish this feat at 35 years 171 days, breaking Sunil Gavaskar’s Indian record. Sachin Tendulkar is the youngest Indian to do so, while Rahul Dravid took least time (from the date of debut) in playing his 100th Test.


Indian players with 100 Test appearances

Player          First Test                100th Test   Time Span    Age
Sunil Gavaskar  Mar 6,1971                Oct 17,1984  13Y 225D   35Y 99D
                v W.Indies,Port-of-Spain  v Pakistan,Lahore 
D.Vengsarkar    Jan 24,1976               Nov 24,1988  12Y 305D   32Y 232D
                v New Zealand,Auckland    v New Zealand,Mumbai 
Kapil Dev       Oct 16,1978               Nov 15,1989  11Y  30D   30Y 313D
                v Pakistan,Faisalabad     v Pakistan,Karachi 
S.Tendulkar     Nov 15,1989               Sep 5,2002   12Y 294D   29Y 134D
                v Pakistan,Karachi        v England,The Oval 
Anil Kumble     Aug 9,1990                Dec 18,2005  15Y 131D   35Y  62D
                v England, Manchester     v Sri Lanka,Ahmedabad 
Rahul Dravid    Jun 20,1996               Mar 18,2006   9Y 271D   33Y  66D
                v England, Lord's         v England,Mumbai 
Sourav Ganguly  Jun 20,1996               Dec 26,2007  11Y 189D   35Y 171D
                v England, Lord's         v Australia, Melbourne 

Note: Dravid's tally included World XI-Australia Super 'Test' played at Sydney in October 2005.His 100th game for India was against West Indies at St.John's in June 2006

The following table shows the career aggregate of Indians before the start of their 100th Tests:

                   Inns Runs   Hs   Avg  100s 50s 0s Wkts Avg
Sunil Gavaskar     174  8394  236* 52.46  30  36  10   1  177.00
Dilip Vengsarkar   159  6331  166  46.21  17  31  12   0    -
Kapil Dev          143  4087  163  31.20   6  21  12 347   29.02
Sachin Tendulkar   159  8351  217  57.99  30  33  10  27   43.74
Anil Kumble        126  1687   88  16.87   0   3  13 478   28.03
Rahul Dravid       167  8492  270  58.16  22  41   6   1   39.00
Sourav Ganguly     161  6346  239  43.17  15  30   9  32   49.47

Note: M Azharuddin ended his career with 99 Tests having scored 6215 runs (avg 45.04) with 22 centuries and 21 fifties

Kumble is the only player to see India WINNING in his 100th Test. Gavaskar, Kapil and Tendulkar’s 100th Tests were drawn games, whereas Vengsarkar and Dravid ended on the losing sides.

The following table lists Indian players performances in their 100th Tests along with the result of that Test:

                   Batting     Bowling   Fielding  Result for India
                 Inns1 Inns2 Inns1 Inns2   Ct
Sunil Gavaskar    48    37     -    -       3      Drawn
Dilip Vengsarkar  25     0     -    -       2      lost by 136 runs
Kapil Dev         55     -   4-69  3-82     0      Drawn
Sachin Tendulkar  54     -   0-4    -       0      Drawn
Anil Kumble       21    29*  2-87  5-89     0      won by 259 runs
Rahul Dravid      52     9    -     -       2      lost by 212 runs
Sourav Ganguly    To be seen

Ganguly's feat

Sourav Ganguly today became only the third Indian batsman to aggregate 500 runs in a three-match series. At the end of fourth day's play, Ganguly's series aggregate stands at 506 runs at an average of 101.20. He, in fact, can get the Indian record on his name tomorrow. Virender Sehwag holds the distinction of highest run-aggregate in a three-match series for India. The details:

 
Batsman       Series          Mts Runs  Avg   100 50
V Sehwag      v Pak, 2004-05   3   544  90.66  2  1
SC Ganguly    v Pak, 2007-08   3   506 101.20  2  1
VVS Laxman    v Aus,2000-01    3   503  83.83  1  3
SM Gavaskar   v Pak, 1978-79   3   447  89.40  2  2
SR Tendulkar  v Aus,2000-01    3   446 111.50  2  1

Ganguly's performance is also the third best by any batsman in a three-match series against Pakistan as is detailed below:

 
Batsman          Series   Mts Runs   Avg   100 50
V Sehwag (Ind)   2004-05   3   544   90.66  2  1
MA Taylor (Aus)  1998-99   3   513  128.25  1  2
SC Ganguly (Ind) 2007-08   3   506  101.20  2  1
DI Gower (Eng)   1983-84   3   449  112.25  2  2
BC Lara (WI)     2006-07   3   448   89.60  2  1

A dubious distinction for Team India

The 70 extras conceded by India in Pakistan's first innings are the second most conceded by any side in an innings in Test history. West Indies -with 71 extras against Pakistan about 20 years back- still top the chart, but it is highly unlikely that they will remain there tomorrow. India can become the first side to concede 100 extras in an innings.The following table lists the sides conceding most extras in an innings:

Ex  Concd. by  Against       Venue       Season
71    WI       Pak (435)     Georgetown  1987-88
70    Ind      Pak (369-5)   Bangalore   2007-08
68    WI       Pak (291)     Bridgetown  1976-77
65    SL       Zim (319-8)   Harare      1994-95


Most extras conceded by India
Ex  Against        Venue        Season
70  Pak (369-5)    Bangalore    2007-08
60  Eng (633)      Birmingham   1979
58  SL (952-6)     Colombo RPS  1997
55  Eng (477-4)    The Oval     1990

Dinesh Karthik, already under-pressure for a pretty ordinary series with the bat so far, gave more ammunition to his critics with his performance behind the stumps today. The 31 byes allowed by Karthik are the maximum by any Indian keeper in a Test innings. He will struggle hard not to go beyond 37 tomorrow which are the maximum byes conceded by ANY keeper in an innings in Test history.

Most byes allowed by Indian keepers

Byes Opposition   Venue       Season   Keeper
31   Pak (369-5)  Bangalore   2007-08  Dinesh Karthik
29   Eng (559-8)  Kanpur      1963-64  Budhi Kunderan
28   SL (952-6)   Colombo RPS 1997     Nayan Mongia
24   SA (479)     Bangalore   1999-00  Nayan Mongia
24   NZ (251-7)   Mohali      1999-00  MSK Prasad

Younis - Yousuf pair sets a new record against India

Younis - Yousuf pair today made entry into the record books as the most prolific pair to bat against India. By the time Younis Khan was bowled trying to employ a reverse sweep against Harbhajan Singh, the duo had aggregated 1,372 runs in just nine innings -in which they have batted together against India- at a mind blowing average of 171.50, moving ahead of West Indian pair of Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes who had aggregated 1,325 runs in 30 innings against India. Interestingly two Ys took only nine innings to obliterate West Indian pair’s record!

Out of nine occasions on which these two batted together against India, they were involved in six century partnerships and two fifty partnerships - indeed a mind-blowing performance.

 
Most prolific pairs against India:
Batsmen                              Inns Runs   Hs    Avg  100 50
Mohammad Yousuf & Younis Khan (Pak)    9  1372  319  171.50  6  2
CG Greenidge & DL Haynes (WI)         30  1325  296   45.68  2  6
Javed Miandad & Zaheer Abbas (Pak)    13  1137  287  103.36  4  3
Javed Miandad & Mudassar Nazar (Pak)   9   993  451  110.33  4  1
S Chanderpaul & CL Hooper (WI)        14   962  293   68.71  3  1
ML Hayden & JL Langer (Aus)           20   949  147   47.45  2  8
G Boycott & GA Gooch (Eng)            14   774  145   64.50  2  5
WM Lawry & RB Simpson (Aus)            9   753  191   83.66  2  5
ST Jayasuriya & RS Mahanama (SL)       3   671  576  223.66  1  1
MA Atherton & GA Gooch (Eng)           7   661  225   94.42  3  0

Although the pair’s average dipped from 185.71 (before today) to 171.50 after today’s “failure”, it still is the highest for any pair aggregating at least 1,000 runs against a specific country. The pair is well ahead of some of the great names in the game’s history as is shown below:

 
Most successful pairs against a particular country:
Batsmen                               Opp Inns Runs  Hs   Avg  100 50
Mohammad Yousuf & Younis Khan (Pak)   Ind   9  1372  319 171.50  6  2
DG Bradman & WH Ponsford (Aus)        Eng   6  1012  451 168.66  2  1
DPMD Jayawardene & KC Sangakkara (SL) SA    8  1304  624 163.00  4  2
Javed Miandad & Zaheer Abbas (Pak)    Ind  13  1137  287 103.36  4  3
ML Hayden & RT Ponting (Aus)          SA   13  1135  201  94.58  4  6
B Mitchell & AD Nourse (SA)           Eng  17  1300  190  86.66  4  6
JB Hobbs & H Sutcliffe (Eng)          Aus  30  2452  283  84.55 11  9

Reaching hundred with a six

Iran Pathan reached his maiden Test hundred in style - hitting Danish Kaneria for a six to move from 96 to 102. He, in the course, became only the seventh Indian to perform this feat. Tendulkar has done so as many as four times!

The following table lists Indian batsmen reaching the three figure mark with a six. Pathan follows into the foot-steps of Kapil Dev, who also performed this feat while scoring his maiden Test hundred. Sehwag also reached his triple hundred with a six.

 
Batsman                 Bowler              Opponent    Venue          Season
Polly Umrigar (130)     Sonny Ramadhin      West Indies Port-of-Spain  1952-53
Kapil Dev (126*)        Norbert Phillip     West Indies Delhi          1978-79
Sachin Tendulkar (179)  Courtney Walsh      West Indies Nagpur         1994-95
Sachin Tendulkar (122)  Min Patel           England     Birmingham     1996
M Azharuddin (163*)     Gavin Robertson     Australia   Calcutta       1997-98
Sachin Tendulkar (113)  Daniel Vettori      New Zealand Wellington     1998-99
Sachin Tendulkar (126)  Colin Miller        Australia   Chennai        2000-01
Rahul Dravid (233)      Jason Gillespie     Australia   Adelaide       2003-04
Virender Sehwag (309)   Shoaib Akhtar       Pakistan    Multan         2003-04
Irfan Pathan (102)      Danish Kaneria      Pakistan    Bangalore      2007-08

Highest innings by Indian batsmen

Sourav Ganguly completed his maiden double century in Bangalore Test. His innings is now the seventh highest by an Indian batsman. Incidentally Ganguly's 239 is the highest score by an Indian left-hander. The following table has the details:

Highest innings by Indian batsmen

 
Score Batsman      Opponent     Venue      Season
309  V Sehwag     v Pakistan    Multan     2003-04
281  VVS Laxman   v Australia   Kolkata    2000-01
270  R Dravid     v Pakistan    Rawalpindi 2003-04
254  V Sehwag     v Pakistan    Lahore     2005-06
248* SR Tendulkar v Bangladesh  Dhaka      2004-05
241* SR Tendulkar v Australia   Sydney     2003-04
239  SC Ganguly   v Pakistan    Bangalore  2007-08
236* SM Gavaskar  v West Indies Chennai    1983-84
233  R Dravid     v Australia   Adelaide   2003-04
231  MH Mankad    v New Zealand Chennai    1955-56

Highest innings by Indian left-handers

Runs Batsman      Opponent      Venue      Season
239  SC Ganguly   v Pakistan    Bangalore  2007-08
227  VG Kambli    v Zimbabwe    Delhi      1992-93
224  VG Kambli    v England     Mumbai     1992-93
173  SC Ganguly   v Sri Lanka   Mumbai     1997-98
169  Yuvraj Singh v Pakistan    Bangalore  2007-08

Highest innings by Indian left-handers against Pakistan

 
Runs Batsman       Venue        Season
239  SC Ganguly    Bangalore   2007-08
169  Yuvraj Singh  Bangalore   2007-08
122  Yuvraj Singh  Karachi     2005-06
112  Yuvraj Singh  Lahore      2003-04
110  DH Shodhan    Calcutta    1952-53
102  SC Ganguly    Calcutta    2007-08
102  Irfan Pathan  Bangalore   2007-08

A rare feat for Yuvraj

Yuvraj's 169 in Bangalore Test was not just the highest of his Test career, it was a treat for the spectators as well. Scoring 169 runs in just two sessions is no mean achievement by any yardstick. Yuvraj, in fact, performed the rare feat of scoring a century in a session. Only three Indians have done so before Yuvraj (not two as mentioned at various places in Indian media) - none on the first day of the match.

Yuvraj's innings - session wise

        
               Balls Runs    SR    4s/6s
Upto Lunch       4     0    0.00     -
Lunch to Tea     96   67   69.79    12
Tea to close    103  102   99.02    16/1

Indian batsmen scoring a hundred in a session

Runs Batsman           Opp      Venue    Season   Day Session
103 M Azharuddin (179) v Eng  Manchester 1990     3rd Lunch-Tea
121 VVS Laxman (167)   v Aus  Sydney     1999-00  3rd Tea-Close
109 V Sehwag (254)     v Pak  Lahore     2005-06  4th Lunch-Tea
102 Yuvraj Singh (169) v Pak  Bangalore  2007-08  1st Tea-Close

Sami in a new role

Mohammad Sami is turning out to be more successful with the bat than with the ball for Pakistan in this series.

In three innings in the series so far Sami has batted for more than seven hours and has been involved in two useful partnerships with Misbah-ul-Haq. In the first innings of Delhi Test, Misbah and Sami added 87 runs for the ninth wicket – the highest partnership for this wicket for Pakistan against India and remained unbeaten on 28 till the end. In the second innings of Delhi Test, he could contribute only 5 but more importantly defied the Indian bowlers for about an hour.

At Kolkata today he batted for nearly three hours for his 38 runs stitching a partnership of 91 runs with Misbah for the seventh wicket.

How important has been Sami for Pakistan can be gauged from the fact that once he was dismissed, the innings folded in no time. In first innings of Delhi Test, he remained unbeaten till the end. In the second innings, he was the ninth wicket to fall and innings folded just two minutes and one ball later. At Kolkata today,he was the seventh wicket to fall and last three wickets fell within 28 minutes and 32 balls.

 
Sami with the bat in the series so far  
                         Runs Mins Balls 4s 6s
Delhi Test - 1st inns    28*  194   101   3  1
Delhi Test - 2nd inns     5    53    25   1  0
Kolkata Test - 1st inns  38   177   123   2  1

A rare feat for Wasim Jaffer

In the Kolkata Test Wasim Jaffer followed his first innings marathon innings of 202 with yet another impressive show in the second dig,scoring 56 at a brisk pace. Jaffer, in the course, became only the fifth Indian batsman to score a double century and a fifty in the same Test. Jaffer is only the second Indian opener after Sunil Gavaskar to perform this feat.

Jaffer is the first Indian to do so against Pakistan. In fact there had been only two previous such instances against Pakistan.

Indian batsmen scoring a double hundred & a fifty in the same Test

 
Batsman       Scores    Opp  Venue         Season
SM Gavaskar  124  & 220 WI   Port-of-Spain 1970-71
SM Gavaskar  205  &  73 WI   Mumbai WS     1978-79
R Dravid     200* & 70* Zim  Delhi         2000-01
VVS Laxman    59  & 281 Aus  Calcutta      2000-01
R Dravid     222  &  73 NZ   Ahmedabad     2003-04
R Dravid     233  & 72* Aus  Adelaide      2003-04
SR Tendulkar 241* & 60* Aus  Sydney        2003-04
W Jaffer     202  &  56 Pak  Calcutta      2007-08

A double hundred & a fifty in the same Test against Pakistan

 
Batsman      Scores     For  Venue         Season
MA Taylor    334* &  92 Aus  Peshawar      1998-99
MS Sinclair  204* & 50* NZ   Christchurch  2000-01
W Jaffer     202  &  56 Ind  Calcutta      2007-08