SPORTS

Statistical highlights, Day 4

By Rajneesh Gupta
October 30, 2004 12:25 IST

·        Damien Martyn (97) narrowly missed becoming the second Australian to score three centuries in consecutive innings against India having scored 104 and 114 in his last two innings. Don Bradman (132, 127* & 201) is the only batsman to have achieved this feat -in 1947-48- for Australia. 

·        Martyn provided the 28th instance of a batsman scoring a hundred and a 90 in the same Test match. He is the fifth Australian to do so. Martyn also became the fifth batsman to do so against India.

·        The dismissals in the nineties of Katich (99) and Martyn (97) provided the sixth instance of two batsmen missing their centuries by 10 runs in the same innings against India.

·        Apart from Katich and Martyn, Clarke also became a victim of nervous ninety, albeit in first innings. This provided the third instance in Test history of three batsmen from the same side being dismissed in the 90s in a match.

The details:

JED Sealy (92), LN Constantine (90) & GA Headley (93) WI v Eng Port-of-Spain 1934-35
GA Hick (96), RC Russell (91) & MA Atherton (95) Eng v WI The Oval 1995
MJ Clarke (91), SM Katich (99) & DR Martyn (97) Aus v Ind Nagpur 2004-05

·        Dravid had a totally forgettable match both as a captain and as a batsman. His performance with the bat while burdening the responsibility of captaincy has dipped considerably. In seven innings of 4 Tests Dravid has led India, he has aggregated only 80 runs at an average of 11.42 !

·        The wicket of Sachin Tendulkar was 450th for Glenn McGrath. He became fourth bowler after fellow teammate Shane Warne (541), Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan (532) and West Indian Courtney Walsh (519) to reach this landmark. Incidentally McGrath reached this landmark in fewest balls of the four, taking only 23,538 balls as against Walsh's 26,157, Murali's 27,118 and Warne's 28,345 (calculated upto the end of the Test in which milestone was achieved).

·        Tendulkar has not made a double-digit score in his last five innings since scoring 194* v Pakistan at Multan earlier this year. His scores in last five innings read - 2 & 8 at Lahore, 1 at Rawalpindi (v Pakistan) and 8 & 2 at Nagpur (v Australia). This is the longest lean patch for Tendulkar in Test cricket. During the 2001-02 series against West Indies Tendulkar had failed to move into double figures in four consecutive innings (0,0,8 & 0), which was his previous longest failing streak with the bat.

·        The last wicket partnership of 52 runs between Agarkar and Zaheer is India's highest against Australia in India and second highest in all Tests after 94 run partnership between Sunil Gavaskar and Shivlal Yadav at Adelaide in 1985-86.

·        The wicket of Zaheer Khan was Shane Warne's 50th in the year 2004 (in his eighth Test). He became second bowler to perform this feat this year after England's Steve Harmison, who has taken 61 wickets in 11 Tests so far.

·        Zaheer's 25 is the highest score by a number 11 Indian batsman against Australia in India and second highest in all matches after Shivlal Yadav's 41 at Adelaide in 1985-86.

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·        Jason Gillespie, with match figures of 9-80 (5-56 + 4-24), recorded his best performance in Test cricket. His previous best match haul was 9 for 88 against West Indies at Melbourne in 2000-01.

·        The defeat by 342 runs at Nagpur is biggest ever for India in Test cricket. Overall it was the 17th biggest defeat in entire Test history. India's previous biggest defeat had also come at home soil by 329 runs against South Africa at Calcutta in 1996-97. Incidentally India's previous biggest defeat against Australia was by 300 runs at Perth in 1991-92

·        Australia, by winning the Nagpur Test, also won the four match series 2-0 with one match to go. Australia had last won a series against India in India way back in December 1969 when Bill Lawry's team defeated Nawab Pataudi's Indian team 3-1. Overall it was only the 14th instance of a visiting side winning a series (comprising atleast two Tests) on Indian soil. West Indies have done so most often – 5 times, followed by Australia (4), England (3), Pakistan (1) and South Africa (1).

·        Tendulkar has now got a dubious record on his name. He has now appeared in 34 'lost' matches for India equalling the existing Indian record hitherto held by Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar. However one should not forget that it is also Tendulkar, who holds the record of having made most appearances (33) in 'won' matches for India.

·        Damien Martyn got his second Man of the Match award. His only other award had come against England at Perth in 2002-03.

Rajneesh Gupta

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