Test milestones at Motera

As India and England prepare to battle it out in the first Test of the four-match series at the Sardar Patel stadium in Ahmedabad, Rajneesh Gupta traces the track record of Tests at the venue.

- India-England Test cricket dossier

Out of a total of 11 Tests played at the Sardar Patel stadium in Ahmedabad -- better-known as Motera -- only five have produced results, with India winning three and losing two.

Summary:

Season	Opp	Result	Inns1	Inns2	Inns3	Inns4
1983-84	WI	WI- 138 runs	WI  281	Ind 241	WI  201	Ind 103
1986-87	Pak	Drawn	Pak 395	Ind 323	Pak 135-2
1993-94	SL	Ind - inns & 17 runs	SL 119	Ind 358	SL  222
1996-97	SA	Ind- 64 runs	Ind 223	SA 244	Ind 190	SA 105
1999-00	NZ	Drawn	Ind 583-7d	NZ  308	Ind 148-5d	NZ 252-2
2001-02	Eng	Drawn	Eng 407	Ind 291	Eng 257	NZ 198-3
2003-04	NZ	Drawn	Ind 500-5d	NZ 340	Ind 209-6d	NZ 272-6
2005-06	SL	Ind- 259 runs	Ind 398	SL 206	Ind 316-9d	SL 249
2007-08	SA	SA- Inns & 90 runs	Ind  76	SA  494-7d	Ind 328
2009-10	SL	Drawn	Ind 426	SL  760-7d	Ind 412-4
2010-11	NZ	Drawn	Ind 487	NZ 459	Ind 266	NZ 22-1

Summary of results

	Mts	Won	Lost	Drawn
India	11	3	2	6
England	1	0	0	1

Win the toss and bat first has been a mantra which almost all captains have religiously followed atthe venue. The only time a captain deviated from that formula was in India's first Test there, when Kapil Dev put the West Indies in. Kapil himself had a fabulous match, taking 9 for 83 in the second innings, but India crashed to a 138-run defeat.

The pitch at Motera is often referred to as a spinner's paradise, but stats reveal that fast bowlers have actually achieved more success.

Take a look:

	Wkts	Avg	Best	5WI	10WM
Pace	147	32.70	9-83 (Kapil Dev)	5	1
Spin	179	36.24	7-62 (Harbhajan Singh)	8	3
Overall	326	34.64	9-83 (Kapil Dev)	13	4

Top bowlers at Ahmedabad

	For	Mts	Wkts	Avg	5WI	10WM
A Kumble	Ind	7	36	26.78	3	1
Harbhajan Singh	Ind	7	29	34.83	2	1
Kapil Dev	Ind	3	14	16.21	1	1
DL Vettori	NZ	3	13	48.54	0	0
J Srinath	Ind	3	12	27.33	1	0
M Muralitharan	SL	3	12	43.17	0	0
SLV Raju	Ind	1	11	11.36	2	1

Top batsmen at Ahmedabad

	For	Mts	Runs	Avg	100s	50s
R Dravid	Ind	7	771	59.31	3	1
SR Tendulkar	Ind	8	629	44.93	3	0
VVS Laxman	Ind	7	574	47.83	1	5
SC Ganguly	Ind	4	411	68.50	2	2
V Sehwag	Ind	6	350	31.82	1	1
DPMD Jayawardene	SL	2	332	110.67	1	1

Batting in the fourth innings hasn't been particularly difficult. India and South Africa were bowled out for 103 & 105 in 1983-84 and 1996-97 respectively, but since then batting last has not been that difficult.

New Zealand batted out the entire last day in 1999-00, losing just two wickets, while India lost only three on the final day against England in 2001-02.

In 2003-04 New Zealand again made 224 for the loss of five wickets in 89 overs.

In 2005-06 Sri Lanka made 249 in the fourth innings.

The average runs-per-wicket figure for each innings in Tests at Ahmedabad is as follows:

1st Inns	2nd Inns	3rd Inns	4th Inns
38.18	38.69	31.20	28.59

Milestones at Motera

Motera was been witness some very important milestones.

In 1983-84, Kapil Dev won the toss, and, misreading the pitch, put the opposition, West Indies, in to bat and ended up losing the Test by 138 runs.

During India's first innings, Sunil Gavaskar, in his 96th match, crossed Geoff Boycott's tally of 8114 runs to become the highest run-getter in Tests and also crossed the 1000-run mark in a calendar year for an unprecedented fourth time.

When the West Indies batted a second time, Kapil became the third Indian to take nine wickets in an innings.

The next Test at Motera was the India-Pakistan game in 1987, made memorable for Sunil Gavaskar becoming the first cricketer to cross the 10,000 run mark in Tests.

In 1993-94, Kapil Dev got his world Test record of 432 wickets when he had Hashan Tillekeratne caught by Sanjay Manjrekar on the first morning of the Test against Sri Lanka.

In 1996-97, Javagal Srinath demolished the South African line up with a spell of six for 21 in the second innings to star in India's victory. During that innings, six South Africans failed to score, an unusual occurrence.

In 1999-00, Sachin Tendulkar scored his first Test double century against New Zealand.

In 2003-04, also against New Zealand, Sourav Ganguly completed his 10,000 runs in first class cricket, whereas Anil Kumble became second Indian (after Kapil Dev -434 wickets in 131 Tests) to complete 350 wickets in a Test career when he had Jacob Oram caught by Rahul Dravid in first innings. Sachin Tendulkar completed his 1,000 runs against New Zealand during the second innings. He became first Indian to do so against New Zealand. Rahul Dravid completed his 200 catches in first-class cricket with the catch of Jecob Oram in the second innings.

In 2005-06, the Test against Sri Lanka was Anil Kumble's 100th Test and he celebrated the occasion with a five-for in the second innings. Kumble and Harbhajan accounted for 17 Sri Lankan wickets as India beat Sri Lanka by 259 runs.

In 2007-08, against South Africa, India were bowled out for a paltry 76 before the lunch on first day! Indian innings lasted for just 20 overs, making it the shortest inning in the sub-continent. South Africa thrashed India in just three days by an innings and 90 runs to record their biggest win (by innings margin) against India.

In 2009-10, Sri Lanka posted 760 for 7 declared- the highest total by any side in India, overtaking India's 676 for 7 in Kanpur in 1986-87.Amit Mishra went for 203 runs for one wicket in 58 overs to record the worst figures by an Indian spinner at home, beating Vinoo Mankad's 202 (for three) against West Indies in 1948-49. In this Test Sachin Tendulkar became the first batsman to complete his 30,000 international (Tests+ODIs+T20Is) runs at this venue. Rahul Dravid also became the fifth batsman to complete 11,000 runs in Test cricket.

In 2010-11, New Zealand's Kane Williamson scored a hundred on Test debut. Daniel Vettori completed the all-round double of 3000 runs and 300 wickets in the same Test.