Most runs in one over in Test cricket

Munaf Patel has been the pick of Indian bowlers in the ongoing St. Kitts Test taking three wickets out of the five to fall in West Indies’ innings including the prized scalp of Brian Lara. But he entered the record books for wrong reasons on day two as he was carted for six consecutive fours in one single over by Ramnaresh Sarwan. This provided only the fifth instance in Test cricket history of a batsman hitting six boundaries in one over.
India's Sandeep Patil was the first batsman to perform this feat in Test cricket. Patil did so off the bowling of England’s Bob Willis at Manchester in 1982.One of the fours came off a no-ball (third ball of the over) with one ball not scored off.

New Zealand's Craig McMillan became the first batsman to hit a boundary of every ball of an over when he hit five fours and a six off Pakistan’s Younis Khan at Hamilton in 2000-01.

West Indies Brian Lara emulated McMillan by hitting South African Robin Peterson for four fours and two sixes at Johannesburg in 2003-04. Another West Indian Chris Gayle scored six consecutive fours of English paceman Matthew Hoggard at the Oval in 2004.

Sarwan, in fact, had the opportunity to have his name in a separate league of his own, but he missed it by failing to score off any runs of the seventh ball of Patel’s over, which was there as a gift as Patel had over-stepped while delivering the sixth ball of this dreadful over. Had he scored another boundary off this ball, Sarwan would have created a new world record of most number of runs and boundaries in one over.

Most boundary shots off consecutive balls in an over:

Six

Craig McMillan (NZ) off Younis Khan (Pak) at Hamilton in 2000-01
Brian Lara (WI) off Robin Peterson (SA) at Johannesburg in 2003-04
Chris Gayle (WI) off Matthew Hoggard (Eng) at The Oval in 2004
Ramnaresh Sarwan (WI) off Munaf Patel (Ind) at St. Kitts in 2006

Five

Denis Lindsay (SA) off Johnny Gleeson (Aus) at Port Elizabeth in 1969-70
Rodney Redmond (NZ) off Majid Khan (Pak) at Auckland in 1972-73
David Hookes (Aus) off Tony Greig (Eng) at Melbourne in 1976-77
Krish Srikkanth (Ind) off Bob Holland (Aus) at Sydney in 1985-86
Mohammad Azharuddin (Ind) off Lance Klusener (SA) at Calcutta in 1996-97
Marcus Trescothick (Eng) off Mkhaya Ntini (SA) at Birmingham in 2003


There have now been fourteen instances of 24 or more runs being scored off a single over. However only a few are simple and straightforward with most of the instances needing detailed explanations about questions of eight and six-ball overs, overs including extras, no-balls which at the time were not debited against the bowler and other such issues.

To make things plain and simple, let us limit ourselves to only those instances when 24 or more runs were scored in an over without any help from extras.The maximum runs scored in one eight ball over are 25. New Zealand's Bert Sutcliffe and Bob Blair hit South African spinner Hugh Tayfield for so many runs at Johannesburg in 1953-54.

Apart from Sarwan, ten other players have hit 24 runs in six-ball over. They are West Indian Andy Roberts, Brian Lara and Chris Gayle, Sandeep Patil and Kapil Dev of India, England's Ian Botham, New Zealand's Ian Smith and Craig McMillan and Pakistan's Yousuf Youhana and Shahid Afridi.


Most runs in a single over in Test cricket:

Eight-ball over
25 (66061600)
Bert Sutcliffe & Bob Blair (NZ) off Hugh Tayfield (SA) at Jo'burg in 1953-54
24 (2x6,3x4)
John Morrison (NZ) off Imran Khan (Pak) at Karachi in 1976-77

Six-ball over
28 (466444)
Brian Lara (WI) off Robin Peterson (SA) at Jo'burg in 2003-04
27 (666621)
Shahid Afridi (Pak) off Harbhajan Singh (Ind) at Lahore in 2005-06
26 (444464)
Craig McMillan (NZ) off Younis Khan (Pak) at Hamilton in 2000-01
24 (462660)
Andy Roberts (WI) off Ian Botham (Eng) at Port-of-Spain in 1980-81
24 (4440444)
Sandeep Patil (Ind) off Bob Willis (Eng) at Manchester in 1982
24 (464604)
Ian Botham (Eng) off Derek Stirling (NZ) at The Oval in 1986
24 (006666)
Kapil Dev (Ind) off Eddie Hemmings (Eng) at Lord's in 1990
24 (244266)
Ian Smith (NZ) off Atul Wassan (Ind) at Auckland in 1989-90
24 (444426)
Yousuf Youhana (Pak) off Nicky Boje (SA) at CapeTown in 2002-03
24 (444444)
Chris Gayle (WI) off Matthew Hoggard (Eng) at The Oval in 2004
24 (4444440)
Ramnaresh Sarwan (WI) off Munaf Patel (Ind) at St. Kitts in 2006

-A leg-bye came off Botham's last ball, thus 25 runs were made in the over.
-The third ball of Willis' over was a no-ball, however it was not debited against the bowler's analysis as per the rules prevailing at that time.
-The sixth ball of Munaf’s over was a no-ball.


There has been one more instance of 25 runs scored in one over. England's Andrew Caddick conceded so many runs in the Christchurch Test against New Zealand in 2001-02, but only 23 runs came off the bats of Nathan Astle and Chris Cairns. There was a dot ball in that over and Caddick bowled a no-ball off which one leg-bye was taken. As a result two runs were added to the total.

The world record for most runs in an over is held jointly by West Indian allrounder Garfield Sobers and Indian batsman Ravi Shastri, who both scored six consecutive sixes in first class matches.

Follow-on in Test cricket

When Rahul Dravid asked West Indies to bat again after bundling out the hosts for a paltry 215 and gaining a first innings lead of 373, it provided only the 25th instance of an Indian captain enforcing the follow-on on the opposition.

Overall it was the 269th instance of a side enforcing the follow-on in Test cricket. England have imposed this ignominy on most number of occasions on the opponents -91, followed by Australia (66), West Indies (30) and India (25).

England, however, have also been at the receiving end on most number of occasions – 51 times, followed by Australia and New Zealand (39 apiece), South Africa (37) and India (28).

Australia are the only country to lose a Test after asking opposition to follow-on. They lost by 10 runs at Sydney in 1894-95 and at Leeds by 18 runs in 1981 – both times to England and then to India at Kolkata in 2000-01 by 171 runs.

Coming back to India, there is a great disparity in India’s performance at home and abroad wrt enforcing the follow-on. At home India have enforced the follow-on 18 times, winning 12 and drawing 6. In seven instances India have won 3 and drawn 3.The break-up of AWAY instances - two in England (at The Oval in 1990 and Leeds in 2002), one in West Indies (at Kingston in 1970-71), one in Australia (at Sydney in 1985-86), one in Pakistan (at Multan in 2003-04) and one in Bangladesh (at Chittagong in 2004-05).

Out of 24 previous instances of enforcing the follow-on, India managed a lead of 300-plus five times (winning four and drawing one), between 250 and 300 five times (winning four and drawing one) and less than 250 fourteen times (winning seven and drawing seven). 8 wins in 10 games where India enforced the follow-on after gaining a lead of 250 is a high success rate by any yardstick.

The two draws managed by the opposition despite India getting a first innings lead of 250 or more came at Delhi in 1978-79 when India did not have sufficient time at their disposal to dismiss the West Indies second time in the match (more than seven hours was lost due to rain) and at the Oval when England fought hard to score 477-4 in a high scoring match. On all other eight occasions India did not even need to bat again in the match and won quite comfortably by innings margin.

With Chris Gayle- top-scorer in three innings for West Indies in this series – already back in the pavilion and two days to go in the Test on a pitch of variable bounce, it will need a miraculous innings from Lara or some divine help for West Indies to earn a draw from here onwards.

A new first for Team India

India's remarkable run in ODIs has given them a golden opportunity to achieve a new milestone.Jamshedpur one-dayer will be India's 615th ODI. In the 614 previous games, India have won 293 and lost 294. In addition 3 games were tied and 24 were abandoned. Thus India stand a chance to first equal their tally of defeats and then surpass it with their tally of wins if they continue their winning streak in the series.

Among the regular ODI playing countries only Australia (378 wins/219 losses),Pakistan (340 wins/274 losses), West Indies (291 wins/216 losses), South Africa (216 wins/124 losses) and England (211 wins/203 losses) have won more games than they have lost. New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Kenya all have more games under lost column than the won column.

Never before India's tally of wins has equalled or exceeded their tally of losses, not even when they looked invincibles. As one can observe from the table given below, which lists India's win-loss record after three major tournaments (when Indian team was supposed to be in their best form) India did not have an impressive win-loss record even after grand success in 1983 World Cup in England and 1984-85 World Championship of Cricket in Australia.The gap between losses and victories was narrowed down after 2002-03 World Cup in South Africa, but it was never as close as it is today.

                             M    W   L   T  NR
1983 World Cup               48  18   30  0   0
1984-85 World Championship   74  28   43  0   3
2002-03 World Cup           534 250  260  3  21

Flintoff’s rare distinction

Andrew Flintoff got a very intriguing record on his name in the Mohali Test that almost went unnoticed. Flintoff had a presence there at the crease for sometime on each and every day of the Test, which is a very rare occurrence in Test cricket.

Flintoff was unbeaten on 4 at the end of first day’s play when rain and bad light allowed only 50.3 overs. He was still unbeaten on 26 at the end of rain-curtailed second day,when only 14.3 overs were bowled in the day. On the third day he was dismissed on 70 in England’s first innings total of 300. India batted thereafter and were dismissed for 338 on the fourth day after lunch. A batting collapse against Indian spinners forced Flintoff’s entry to the crease towards the closing stages of the fourth day and he remained unbeaten on 16 at the close of play. On fifth and final day Flintoff took his score to 51 and was the final England wicket to fall.

The feat of batting on each day of a Test (of at least five days duration) has been achieved only five times before in the history of Test cricket spanning about 135 years and 1788 Tests. The following table has the details.

Batsman      Scores         For  Vs    Venue     Season
ML Jaisimha  20* &  74    Ind Aus   Calcutta   1959-60
Made 2,18,0,59 &15 runs on the first,second,third,fourth & fifth days
G Boycott   107  &  80*   Eng Aus   Nottingham 1977
Made 1, 86, 20, 12 & 68 runs on the first, second, third, fourth & fifth days
KJ Hughes   117  &  84    Aus Eng   Lord's     1980
Made 47, 35, 35, 38 & 46 runs on the first, second, third, fourth & fifth days
AJ Lamb      23  & 110    Eng WI   Lord's     1984
Made 13, 10, 30,79 & 1 runs on the first, second, third, fourth & fifth days
RJ Shastri  111  &   7*   Ind Eng   Calcutta   1984-85
Made 26, 0, 82, 3 & 7 runs on the first, second, third, fourth & fifth days
A Flintoff  70  &  51    Eng Ind   Mohali     2005-06
Made 4, 22, 44, 16 & 35 runs on the first, second, third, fourth & fifth days

Yuvraj's hot streak

In his last seven innings (starting from Kolkata ODI vs South Africa) Yuvraj has made a score of at least 35, which is a new Indian record. The previous best sequence for India was of six consecutive innings, jointly held by Sanjay Manjrekar (in 1991), Virender Sehwag (in 2002) and Sachin Tendulkar (twice – in 2003 & 2003-04).

Eight more batsmen - Australia's Graham Yallop and Geoff Marsh, England's Geoff Boycott and Graham Gooch, West Indian Gordon Greenidge, New Zealand's Glenn Turner, South Africa's Jacques Kallis and Pakistan's Mohammad Yousuf – have also made 35-plus scores in 7 consecutive innings. Yuvraj, however, has the chance to extend his streak and get past the tally of following four who have had a longer streak:

Inns  Batsman       Year               Sequence
9  Javed Miandad    1987    78,78*,74*,60,52*,113,71*,68,103
9  Sanath J'suriya  2002    36,49,97,46,71,102*,36,42,74
8  Marvan Atapattu  2000    119*,57,77,41*,42,62,100,62
8  Graham Gooch     1987-88 92,61,115,35,43,142,57,43

7  Yuvraj Singh     2005-06 53,49,39,82*,79*,37,107*

Two world records for Dhoni

Indian wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni got two world records on his name during the fifth and final one-dayer against Pakistan at Karachi.

By remaining unbeaten on 77,Dhoni lifted his career batting average to 53.95, which is the highest for any batsman having scored at least 1,000 runs in one-day internationals. Dhoni moved ahead of Australia's Michael Bevan.

Highest career average in ODIs:
(Min.1000 runs)

Batsman     For Mts  Runs  Hs   Avg  100 50
MS Dhoni    Ind  35  1133 183* 53.95   2  6
M Bevan     Aus 232  6912 108* 53.58   6 46
Z Abbas     Pak  62  2572 123  47.62   7 13
V Richards  WI  187  6721 189* 47.00  11 45
G Turner    NZ   41  1598 171* 47.00   3  9
M Clarke    Aus  74  2237 105* 46.60   2 15
G Greenidge WI  128  5134 133* 45.03  11 31
R Sarwan    WI   88  2817 104* 44.71   2 17
D Jones     Aus 164  6068 145  44.61   7 46
B Dippenaar SA   94  3075 125* 44.56   3 24
S Tendulkar Ind 362 14146 186* 44.20  39 72
J Kallis    SA  229  7954 139  44.18  13 56

Dhoni took only 56 balls to score his unbeaten 77. At the end of Karachi ODI, his career strike-rate stands at 108.73 (runs per 100 balls), which is the highest for any batsman in the history of ODIs. Dhoni displaced Pakistan's Shahid Afridi from the top position in the list of batsmen with highest career strike rate. Interestingly Dhoni is the only one in the following list to also maintain an average of 50-plus.

Highest career strike-rate in ODIs
(Min.1000 runs)

Batsman       For    Mts Runs   Hs    SR    Avg   100
MS Dhoni      Ind    35  1133  183* 108.73  53.95  2
Shahid Afridi Pak   219  4819  109  108.51  23.97  4
IDS Smith     NZ     98  1055   62*  99.43  17.29  0
V Sehwag      Ind   141  4220  130   97.82  32.21  7
RL Powell     WI    109  2085  124   96.66  24.82  1
AC Gilchrist  Aus   234  7985  172   96.37  36.46 14
Kapil Dev     Ind   225  3783  175*  95.07  23.79  1
A Symonds     Aus   141  3491  156   92.01  37.94  4
IVA Richards  WI    187  6721  189*  90.20  47.00 11
L Klusener    SA    171  3576  103*  89.91  41.10  2
A Flintoff    Eng    98  2601  123   89.75  35.14  3
ST Jayasuriya SL    354 10512  189   89.06  31.85 19
N Boje        SA    115  1414  129   88.70  26.67  2
Wasim Akram   Pak   356  3717   86   88.28  16.52  0
MJ Clarke     Aus    74  2237  105*  87.55  46.60  2
Yuvraj Singh  Ind   142  3781  139   86.14  34.68  6
AB Agarkar    Ind   155  1123   95   85.98  16.51  0
SR Tendulkar  Ind   362 14146  186*  85.98  44.20 39

Team batting second winning by runs!

In a limited-overs game, side batting first wins by runs and that batting second by wickets. This is what we all have seen over the years and how it is written in the record-books -of course excepting the rare instances of a side conceding a match. Even when the result was made on the basis of run-rate in case of rain / weather interruptions, it was only in line with the established cricketing convention.

Not any more. Duckworth – Lewis method, supposedly the best method to reset targets in ODIs, has changed all this. Now the team batting second can be declared winner in terms of runs as was the case in the first ODI at Peshawar between India and Pakistan.

Chasing a victory target of 329, Pakistan were cruising along having made 311 for seven after 47 overs, when play had to be abandoned because of bad light. Pakistan were seven runs ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis requirements at that stage and won the match by run margin. Under the old ruling, they would have been declared winner on run-rate or by 3 wickets.

Surprisingly this is not the first instance of this kind in ODIs. We take a look at all the instances when a side won a match by runs while batting second:

Batted 1st Batted 2nd  Venue         Date        Result
NZ  182-9  SL  155-5  Hamilton    8 Feb 2001  SL - 3 runs
WI  300-5  Ind 200-1  Rajkot     12 Nov 2002  Ind - 81 runs
Pak 243-8  SA  221-6  Faisalabad  7 Oct 2003  SA - 13 runs
Zim 211-6  SL  144-4  Bulawayo   20 Apr 2004  SL - 12 runs
SA  175-9  Eng 103-3  Jo'burg    30 Jan 2005  Eng - 26 runs
Ind  328   Pak 311-7  Peshawar    6 Feb 2006  Pak - 7 runs 

Ususual dismissals in ODIs

In the first one-day international between India and Pakistan in Peshawar , Inzamam-ul Haq provided only the third instance in ODI history of a batsman getting out obstructing the field, when he intercepted a throw from Super sub Suresh Raina with his bat to avoid being run-out.

Others to suffer this fate in ODIs are:
1. Rameez Raja (99), versus England at Karachi in 1987-88. He intercepted the ball with his bat to avoid being run-out while taking a second run off the final ball of Pakistan's innings to complete his hundred.

2. Mohinder Amarnath (28) versus Sri Lanka at Ahmedabad in 1989-90. He kicked the ball out of bowler Arjuna Ranatunga's reach to avoid being run-out.

There have been two instances of a batsman being dismissed 'handled the ball'. They are:
1) Mohinder Amarnath (15) versus Australia at Melbourne in 1985-86. He pushed away a turning ball from Greg Matthews that spun back towards his wicket.

2) Daryll Cullinan (46) versus West Indies at Durban in 1998-99. He was given out on West Indian skipper Brian Lara's appeal after playing Keith Arthurton into the ground and catching the rebound with his right hand.

Note: In both these modes, the bowler does not get the credit for dismissing the batsman.

Irfan’s unique hat-trick

Irfan Pathan became 33rd player in cricket history and only the second Indian to claim a Test match hat-trick, when he dismissed Salman Butt, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf off the fourth, fifth and sixth ball of his first over in Karachi Test. The first and only other Indian to make a hat-trick is Harbhajan Singh, who did so against Australia at Kolkata in 2000-01.

A total of 36 hat-tricks have now been made, with Australia's Hugh Trumble, Thomas Matthews and Pakistan's Wasim Akram performing this feat on two occasions each.The country-wise break-up of hat-tricks:
Australia - 10
England - 10
West Indies - 4
Pakistan - 4
New Zealand - 2
India - 2
South Africa - 1
Sri Lanka - 1
Zimbabwe - 1
Bangladesh - 1

India is the only country against which no hat-trick has been made in Test cricket till date.The break-up of countries against which hat-tricks have been made:
Australia - 8
England - 5
West Indies - 5
Pakistan - 5
S.Africa - 5
Sri Lanka - 4
Bangladesh - 2
New Zealand - 1
Zimbabwe - 1

Irfan Pathan's feat of claiming a hat-trick in the first over of a match is unparallaled in the Test chronicles. The previous record of 'earliest' hat-trick in a Test was held by Sri Lanka's Nuwan Zoysa, who claimed a hat-trick in second over of the match against Zimbabwe at Harare in 1999-00 (his first over in the match). However Zoysa's hat-trick is unique in the way that it came off first three balls he sent down in the match.

A match of mighty sixes

The Faisalabad Test will always find a special mention in the annals of Test cricket for a number of reasons. The batsmen from either side took full advantage of the flattest track one would ever see and made runs with the ridiculous ease. 1702 runs were scored in the match for the loss of 28 wickets – a daily average of more than 340 runs and less than six wickets! A total of 15 centuries were made in the match – six by batsmen and nine by bowlers.

More remarkably, as many as 27 sixes were hit in the Test – 18 by Pakistan batsmen (6 by Shahid Afridi, 5 by Mohammad Yousuf, 3 by Shoaib Akhtar, 2 by Abdul Razzaq and one apiece by Inzamam-ul-Haq and Younis Khan) and 9 by Indians (4 by MS Dhoni, 2 apiece by Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh and one by Zaheer Khan).

The 27-sixes in the match established a new world record of most number of sixes hit in a Test match. The previous record was of 23 sixes in a match between hosts New Zealand and England at Christchurch in 2001-02. The accompanying table has the details:

Most sixes in a Test
6s Countries Venue Season
27 Pak (18) v Ind (9) Faisalabad 2005-06
23 NZ (13) v Eng (10) Christchurch 2001-02
22 Pak (10) v NZ (12) Karachi 1976-77
19 WI (18) v Eng (1) St.John's 1985-86
19 Ind (8) v Pak (11) Madras 1986-87
19 Aus (17) v Zim (2) Perth 2003-04
19 NZ (14) v SA (5) Auckland 2003-04
19 Pak (14) v Eng (5) Faisalabad 2005-06
18 Eng (16) v Aus (2) Birmingham 2005
17 SA (11) v WI (6) Cape Town 2003-04

The 18 sixes hit by Pakistan batsmen in their two innings in the Faisalabad Test (11 in the first and 7 in the second) also equalled the existing world record of most sixes hit by a side in a Test match. The details:

Most sixes by a side in a Test
6s Countries Venue Season
18 WI v Eng St.John's 1985-86
18 Pak v Ind Faisalabad 2005-06
17 Aus v Zim Perth 2003-04
16 Eng v Aus Birmingham 2005
15 Pak v NZ Lahore 2001-02
14 SL v NZ Auckland 1990-91
14 NZ v SA Auckland 2003-04
14 Pak v Eng Faisalabad 2005-06

The Number Game

from the fifth day of Faisalabad Test:

0 – Number of wickets taken by Harbhajan Singh in the series after bowling 81 overs and conceding 355 runs.

4 – Number of centuries scored by Younis Khan in last four Tests against India, becoming only the fourth batsman to score four consecutive centuries against a particular country after Don Bradman (twice v England), Neil Harvey (v South Africa) and Jacques Kallis (v West Indies).

12 – Number of centuries scored in first two Tests of this series – 6 at Lahore and 6 at Faisalabad. This equals the existing world record of most centuries in first two Tests of a series. Interestingly the previous two occasions also involved India – v England in 1990 and v Sri Lanka in 1997.

77.52 – Average runs scored per wicket in this series so far.

236 – Rahul Dravid’s batting average in this series.

446 – runs conceded by Anil Kumble in two Tests in this series.

984 - Younis Khan’s career aggregate against India in just 5 Tests and 9 innings.

1078 – Pakistan’s aggregate in their two innings – the second highest for any side in all Tests after England’s 1121 against West Indies at Kingston in 1929-30.

1702 – Runs scored in the Faisalabad Test- seventh highest in all Tests and highest between India-Pakistan.surpassing the 1492 (for the loss of 32 wickets) by a long way at Bangalore in 2004-05.

Fastest 100s by wicketkeepers

Cricinfo has mentioned MS Dhoni's 93-ball hundred as the fourth fastest by any wicketkeeper. As per my records, it is the seventh fastest. Here it is:

Balls Keeper (Score) Countries Venue Season
81 Kamran Akmal (102*) Pak v Ind Lahore 2005-06
84 AC Gilchrist (122) Aus v Ind Mumbai 2000-01
84 AC Gilchrist (113*) Aus v Zim Perth 2003-04
86 AC Gilchrist (162) Aus v NZ W'ton 2004-05
88 JR Murray (101*) WI v NZ W'ton 1994-95
91 AC Gilchrist (138*) Aus v SA Cape Town 2001-02
93 MS Dhoni (116*) Ind v Pak Faisalabad 2005-06

The Number Game

from the third day of Faisalabad Test

0 – Number of centuries scored by Indian wicket-keepers against Pakistan before MS Dhoni’s hundred

2 – Number of centuries scored by Dravid against Pakistan as captain, equalling Sunil Gavaskar’s Indian record.

4 – Number of sixes hit by MS Dhoni – more than any other Indian wicket-keeper in an innings against Pakistan.

9 – Century partnerships between Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman – 5 for fifth wicket, 2 for fourth wicket and one each for second and third wickets.

21- Number of times Dravid has been involved in a run-out – third most by any player in Test cricket after Allan Border (29) and Steve Waugh (27). Dravid himself has been run-out on 9 occasions, while on 12 occasions partners had to suffer.

28 – Previous highest score by an Indian wicket-keeper in debut innings against Pakistan (at Chennai in 1986-87).

60.07- Average partnership runs between Dravid and VVS Laxman. The pair has so far aggregated 2463 runs in 46 innings.

66.25 – Dhoni’s batting average in Test cricket – highest by any ‘specialist’ Indian wicket-keeper. He moved ahead of Dilawar Hussain, who had a career average of 42.33

93 – number of balls taken by MS Dhoni to reach his hundred – fastest by an Indian wicket-keeper and seventh fastest by any wicket-keeper in Test matches.

160- unbroken partnership between Dhoni and Irfan Pathan for the sixth wicket – highest for India against Pakistan bettering 143-run partnership between Mohammad Azharuddin and Kapil Dev at Kolkata in 1986-87.

435.4 – Number of overs after which Rahul Dravid left the ground for the first time in this series.

The Number Game

From the second day of Faisalabad Test

3 – Number of times Pakistan have made 500 runs in last 3 innings – 636 for 8 decl vesrsus England at Lahore, followed by 679 for 7 decl against India at Lahore and 588 in Faisalabad.

4 - Number of wickets taken by RP Singh – second best figures by any Indian pacer on first appearance against Pakistan (Best : 5 for 104 by Manoj Prabhakar at Karachi in 1989-90).

6 - The consecutive dismissal as caught for Virender Sehwag on Pakistan soil.

11 - Number of times Anil Kumble has conceded 150 or more runs in an innings – most by any bowler in Test cricket.

14 - Number of ducks scored by Danish Kaneria in just 44 Test innings.

47- Runs scored by Shoaib Akhtar – his highest in Test cricket beating the 38 against England at Lahore in December 2005.

116- Runs scored by Shahid Afridi in boundaries alone – 20 fours and six sixes

The Number Game

A different way of looking at cricket stats!

Day 1, Faisalabad Test


0 – Number of wickets taken by spin duo of Kumble and Harbhajan. For the second successive time in the series, this pair has gone wicket-less on the opening day.

3 – Number of left-arm pacers played by India. First such instance in Indian Test cricket history.

22- Runs conceded by Irfan Pathan in one single over to Inzamam & Afridi. The sequence – 1,0 (no ball), 4, 0, 6, 6, 4.

55 –Number of Tests after which India were playing with 5 specialist bowlers. The last instance was against Zimbabwe at Nagpur in Nov. 2000 (Srinath, Zaheer, Agarkar, Sunil Joshi, Sarandeep)

56 – Number of boundaries hit by Pakistan batsmen (52 fours and four sixes)

64 – Runs scored by Pakistan batsmen in just 7.5 overs bowled with the second new ball.

107 – Average by which Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf together have aggregated runs for the third wicket partnership (750 runs in just seven innings).

252 –RP Singh’s Test cap number for India

379 –Pakistan’s total at close of play – highest score made in Pakistan on the first day of a Test (Previous best : 356 for two by India at Multan in 2003-04).

One-Day Internationals in 2005

A total of 107 one-day internationals were played during the calendar year 2005, including the seven Combined XI games.

The year started with Tsunami relief fund match between a World XI and an Asian XI at Melbourne. Buoyed by the success of this match, ICC also granted official status (amid strong protests from statisticians the world over) to the three-match series between Asia XI and Africa XI in South Africa in August and between Australia and World XI in Australia in October. These matches, however, could not generate as much interest.

South Africa ended the year with 18 wins out of the 24 games they played this year- a winning percentage of 75. In fact they did not lose a single match in 20 consecutive matches at one stage and it was only towards the end of the year that their copybook was blotted when the five-match series against India ended in a 2-2 draw.

Australia,like in Test cricket, ended with most wins but second to South Africa in terms of winning percentage. Pakistan and India were ranked third and fourth respectively.

Click on the following link for complete article

http://in.rediff.com/cricket/2006/jan/10odis.htm

Test Cricket in 2005

A total of 48 Tests were played between ten Test playing nations in the calendar year 2005, out of which 36 produced result. And yes, there was also a farce in the name of Super 'Test' between Australia and an ICC World XI, which was accorded the official status by the ICC -- clearly because of commercial reasons.

This 'Test' has been included in this statistical analysis, though yours truly strongly believes that such hotch-potch games must never be considered at par with real Test match cricket.

India ended the year with 5 wins and one loss out of 8 games, which gave them a winning percentage of 62.50 -- the highest for any team in the year. Australia, though, ended with most wins in the year, but they also played most number of games.

Click on the following link for the full article:

http://in.rediff.com/cricket/2006/jan/03stats.htm

ICC revises definitions of Test & ODI matches

Fellow ACS member Kendix David - the man behind ICC's cricket rating - has been kind enough to inform about ICC's recent decision to change the definitions of OFFICIAL Test and ODI.This, I feel,was necessary after continuing critism from leading cricket statisticians world over. This is what David wrote in his email:

"In the light of a series of recent ICC decisions to grant official status to matches involving the top six Associates as well as matches in the Johnnie Walker Super Series, the Tsunami Appeal and Afro/Asian Cup matches, ICC recognised the need to update its definitions of Test and ODI matches

The alternative to ICC updating its definitions would have been for the status of every 'non-traditional' match to continue to be considered on a case-by-case basis. ICC's preference was that future decisions be taken according to specified criteria rather than on an ad hoc basis.

Accordingly, at the recent meeting of the ICC's Executive Board in Sydney, a detailed paper on this subject was considered and, following a debate, a new set of definitions was duly agreed. It should be noted the Executive Board, which is the ultimate decision making body in the game, is comprised mainly of the Chairmen of each of the ten Full Member countries.

The paper debated by the Board stated that the "views of the Association of Cricket Statisticians have been sought on this matter and the feedback and views received have been incorporated".

As the governing body of world cricket, ICC maintains it has every right to determine for itself which matches are deserving of official status.

The definitions of Test and ODI cricket have now been broadened and may well be wider than many ACS members would have liked. Nevertheless, at least there is now improved clarity, which itself should be welcome.

It was pointed out to ICC that some statisticians would still choose not to include these additional matches in their published records. The ICC responded that they "would have no objection to the 'traditional' Test and ODI matches being recorded as a subset of all official Test and ODI matches".

There are two areas where the Executive Board has taken an interim decision and undertaken to review it in two years' time. These relate to the Asia Cup and Afro/Asian matches.

ODI Item B (iv) below relating to the ICC Trophy may require some elaboration. My understanding is that the top 6 Associate status runs from the end of one ICC Trophy to the start of the next one. The five ICC Trophy matches to be given official status will thus all be those played by teams who at the time are guaranteed a top 6 finish and will thus be ODI countries for the next four years.

Members with any queries on the interpretation of these new regulations should feel free to contact me and I will attempt to resolve any queries through a subsequent posting..

The full wording of the new definitions of Test and ODI matches is as follows.

Test matches are those which:


A) Are played in accordance with the ICC Standard Test Match Playing Condition and other ICC regulations pertaining to Test matches; and

B) Are between:

i) Teams selected by Full Members of the ICC as representative of the Member Countries (Full Member Teams) Note: This refers to the Senior National teams not "A" teams or age-group teams; or

ii) A Full Member Team and a composite team selected by the ICC as representative of the best players from the rest of the world. (The Johnnie Walker Super Series Test Match will fall into this category).

ODI matches are those which:

A) Are played in accordance with the ICC Standard One Day International Playing Conditions and other ICC regulations pertaining to ODI Matches; and

B) Are between:

i) Any teams participating in and as part of the ICC Cricket World Cup or ICC Champions Trophy; or

ii) Full Member Teams; or

iii) A Full Member Team and any of the Associate/Affiliate Member teams whose matches have been granted ODI status (i.e. the top 6 Associates/Affiliates); or

iv) Any of the Associate/Affiliate Member teams whose matches have been granted ODI status (i.e. either as a top 6 Associate/Affiliate or as an Associate/Affiliate competing in the final, semi finals, 3rd and 5th place play offs of the ICC Trophy ); or

v) A Full Member Team and any Associate/Affiliate match played as part of the Asia Cup. This provision would be reviewed after two years.

vi) A team selected by the African Cricket Association and the Asian Cricket Council and played as part of the Afro/Asia Cup. This provision would be reviewed after the conclusion of the 2007 event.

vii) A Full Member Team (or a Top 6 Associate/Affiliate) and a composite team selected by the ICC as representative of the best players from the rest of the world (The Super Series 1 day matches would fall into this category)."

Interestingly Bill Frindall - the renowned cricket statistician - is not at all impressed with ICC's decisions. This is what Frindall replied when yours truly asked for his opinion.

"It's a classic case of moving goalposts to suit one's own convenience, in this case after the event(s) concerned have taken place.

It will not affect my excluding composite matches from the main Test and LOI records."

Clearly we haven't heard the last word on this tussle.

Two wides & a no-ball

Two wides and one no-ball, this was all what Indian bowlers and fielders conceded as extras in the sixth one-dayer against Sri Lanka at Rajkot. It was a refreshing change from the past when Indians would invariably give away a lot of runs in byes and leg-byes. Not to forget the numerous wides and no-balls sent down by our bowlers.

The three extras in Sri Lankan innings are the least conceded by India in any ODI equalling the performance of 1982-83 squad against Pakistan at Lahore. There have been three instances of four extras and another seven of five extras conceded by India in an innings.

Rajkot match provided only the fourth instance of Indian fielders not conceding any bye or leg-byes in opposition's total of 150 or more. The other three instances have been - v Pakistan at Sharjah in 1991-92, v West Indies at Harare in 2001 and v Sri Lanka at Colombo in 2002-03.

Incidentally the ODI record of least extras conceded by a side in opposition's all-out total of 150 or more is held by South Africa. In a Morrocco Cup match at Tangier in 2002, South Africa conceded only one extra (one wide) in Pakistan's total of 188.

Plethora of records for Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni set a plethora of records during his brilliant innings of 183 not out in the third one-dayer against Sri Lanka at Jaipur. Some major are:

- When he reached 50, Dhoni became first Indian wicketkeeper to score a fifty against Sri Lanka in India. Interestingly, he held the previous highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper against Sri Lanka in India with his 38 at Nagpur on October 25, 2005.

- When he reached 100, he became first wicketkeeper to score two separate hundreds on Indian soil. By reaching three-figure mark, he also provided the first instance of wicketkeepers from the opposing sides scoring a hundred in the same match.

-When he reached 146, he established the highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper against Sri Lanka, obliterating Rahul Dravid's 145 at Taunton on May 26,1999.

-When he reached 149, he achieved his highest score in ODIs as well as the highest ever innings by an Indian wicketkeeper, beating his own 148 against Pakistan at Visakhapatnam on April 5, 2005.

-When he reached 154, he achieved the highest score by a batsman in ODIs batting second, expunging West Indian Brian Lara's 153 against Pakistan at Sharjah on November 5, 1993.

-When he reached 155, he set a new record of highest score by a wicketkeeper against Sri Lanka, bettering Australia's Adam Gilchrist's 154 at Melbourne on February 7,1999.

-When he reached 170, he set a new world record of highest individual innings by a batsman at number 3, bettering West Indian Brian Lara's 169 against Sri Lanka at Sharjah on October 16, 1995.

-When he reached 173, he established a new world record of highest score by a wicket-keeper in ODI history surpassing Australia's Adam Gilchrist's 172 against Zimbabwe at Hobart on January 16, 2004.

-The last six to end the match was Dhoni's tenth in the match -- a new Indian record of most sixes, beating the tally of seven sixes by Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly (twice). Only Sanath Jayasuriya and Shahid Afridi have hit more sixes than Dhoni in an innings (11 apiece).

-The tenth six also took Dhoni's run-aggregate in the match in boundary shots to 120 (10 sixes and 15 fours) -- a new world record. The previous record was jointly held by Pakistan's Saeed Anwar against India at Chennai on May 21, 1997 and New Zealand's Lou Vincent against Zimbabwe at Hobart on August 24, 2005.

- His innings of 183* is now the highest ever by any batsman against Sri Lanka in ODIs. He joined fellow-countryman Sourav Ganguly, who also registered an identical score (but was dismissed) at Taunton on May 26,1999.

-This was the third time he ended a match with a six. The earlier such occasions were -- against the West Indies at Dambulla on July 31,2005 and against Zimbabwe at Harare on September 4, 2005.He now holds the Indian record of ending a match (on a winning note) with a six on most occasions.

He was previously at level with Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar with two such instances each.

- Dhoni took his career strike-rate to 108.90 at the end of this match -- highest by any batsman in ODIs (having batted in at least 20 innings). He went ahead of Pakistan's Shahid Afridi, who has scored his runs at a rate of 108.20 runs per 100 balls.

-At the end of this match, Dhoni's average is a staggering 49.73 -- the highest by any Indian batsman (having scored at least 500 runs in a career). He moved ahead of Sachin Tendulkar, who averages 44.67.