The Indore Test and more in numbers

Rajneesh Gupta presents the numbers from the Indore Test.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin claimed career-best figures while Cheteshwar Pujara hit a century as India crushed New Zealand by 321 runs in the third Test in Indore to complete a 3-0 series whitewash.

Ashwin, who claimed 6/81 in the first innings, took 7/59 as New Zealand were bundled out for 159 after being set a huge 475 for victory at the Holkar stadium which was hosting its first Test match.

Rajneesh Gupta looks at the numbers in the Indore Test:

The Holkar stadium became the 22nd Indian ground to host a Test. Indore became the 16th Indian city to host a Test match. No other country has used so many grounds or cities to host Test matches.

Test match venues:

Host Country	Centres	Grounds	Tests hosted
India	16	22	251
Pakistan	12	17	151
West Indies	12	12	237
England	10	10	506
Australia	8	9	404
South Africa	8	11	217
New Zealand	6	8	197
Bangladesh	5	7	52
Sri Lanka	5	8	129
UAE	3	3	25
Zimbabwe	2	3	54
TOTAL	86	109	2,223

Notes:

Lord's and The Oval are considered as two different centres though they are in the same city, London.

One centre/ground -- Dacca (Dhaka)/Dacca Stadium (Bangabandhu Stadium) -- has been used by two countries (Pakistan and Bangladesh).

Virat Kohli, who had not scored a fifty in his last seven innings, got his form back and scored a magnificent 211 in India's first innings in the third Test in Indore.

Kohli became the first Indian captain to score two double tons in Test cricket -- both knocks coming this year. He scored 200 against the West Indies at North Sound in July.

Highest scores by Indian captains in Tests

Captain	Runs	Opponent	Venue	Season
M S Dhoni	224	Australia	Chennai	2012-2013
Sachin Tendulkar	217	New Zealand	Ahmedabad	1999-2000
Virat Kohli	211	New Zealand	Indore	2016-2017
Sunil Gavaskar	205	West Indies	Mumbai	1978-1079
Tiger Pataudi	203*	England	Delhi	1963-1964
Virat Kohli	200	West Indies	North Sound	2016

Ajinkya Rahane missed out on a double hundred, but like Kohli, he made his highest Test score, surpassing the 147 he made against Australia at Melbourne in 2014-2015.

On that occasion too, both Kohli and Rahane made their highest Test score in the same innings of the same Test!

Rahane has now played nine consecutive series in which he has made a score of at least 90.

Kohli and Rahane put on 365 runs, India's highest fourth wicket partnership in Test cricket against any country, obliterating the 353-run partnership between Sachin Tendulkar and V V S Laxman versus Australia at Sydney in 2003-2004.

India’s highest partnerships in Tests:

Runs	Wkt	Batsmen	Opponent	Venue	Season
413	1st	Vinoo Mankad & Pankaj Roy	New Zealand	Madras	1955-1956
410	1st	Virender Sehwag & Rahul Dravid	Pakistan	Lahore	2005-2006
376	5th	V V S Laxman & Rahul Dravid	Australia	Kolkata	2000-2001
370	2nd	Murali Vijay & Cheteshwar Pujara	Australia	Hyderabad	2012-2013
365	4th	Virat Kohli & Ajinkya Rahane	New Zealand	Indore	2016-2017
353	4th	Sachin Tendulkar & V V S Laxman	Australia	Sydney	2003-2004

India declared their first innings at 557/5.

This is the highest total posted by India in the match's first innings at a home ground hosting its first Test match.

Even though, the Feroz Shah Kotla (Delhi), the Brabourne Stadium and the Wankhede Stadium (Bombay, now Mumbai) saw higher totals being scored in the first-ever Tests hosted by these grounds, they were scored by the opposition.

Interestingly, India made 610/3 declared in the very first Test match in Mirpur, Bangladesh.

India's 557/5 declared was their third highest against New Zealand.

India's highest totals against New Zealand

Total	Venue	Season	Result (for India)
583/7d	Ahmedabad	1999-2000	Drawn
566/8d	Nagpur	2010-2011	Won
557/5d	Indore	2016-17	Won
537/3d	Chennai	1955-1956	Won
531/7d	Delhi	1955-1956	Drawn

Ravichandran Ashwin, after an ordinary outing in the second Test in Kolkata, was back in his groove as he decimatedt he New Zealand batting by taking 6/81 in the first innings.

This was his 20th 5-wicket haul in Test cricket. He became only the 4th Indian to take 20 5-wicket hauls after Anil Kumble (35), Harbhajan Singh (25) and Kapil Dev (23).

What is more remarkable is that Ashwin has achieved this record at an astonishing pace.

In Test history only two bowlers have taken 20 5-wicket hauls in fewer Tests than Ashwin. And those two bowlers -- Syd Barnes and Clarrie Grimmett -- belonged to a different era altogether displaying their craft on uncovered pitches.

Ashwin is well ahead of the leader of modern times -- Waqar Younis. The fastest Indian to reach this mark previously was Harbhajan Singh (in 59 Tests).

Least Tests to take 20 5-wicket hauls

Tests	Bowler
25	Syd Barnes (England)
37	Clarrie Grimmett (Australia)
39	Ravichandran Ashwin (India)
51	Waqar Younis (Pakistan)
54	Ian Botham (England)

With a first innings lead of 258 runs, Kohli could have asked New Zealand to follow on, but he decided against it and preferred to bat instead.

This was the sixth instance of an Indian captain not enforcing the follow-on despite being entitled to do so. Kohli is the only one to have done so more than once.

Indian captains not enforcing the follow-on

Opponent	Venue	Season	Lead	Captain	Result (for India)
New Zealand	Ahmedabad	1999-2000	275	Sachin Tendulkar	Drawn
Australia	Sydney	2003-2004	231	Sourav Ganguly	Drawn
England	The Oval	2007	319	Rahul Dravid	Drawn
Australia	Mohali	2008-2009	201	M S Dhoni	Won
South Africa	Delhi	2015-2016	213	Virat Kohli	Won
New Zealand	Indore	2016-2017	258	Virat Kohli	Won

India declared their second innings soon after Cheteshwar Pujara completed his eighth Test hundred.

Pujara averages a whopping 66.21 at home for a tally of 1,854 runs in 20 Tests.

Among all Indian batsmen, who have aggregated 1,000 or more runs in Tests at home, only one -- Vijay Hazare -- has a higher batting average than Pujara.

Most prolific Indian batsmen at home:

	Mts	Runs	Hs	Avg	100	50
Vijay Hazare	13	1,113	164*	69.56	5	4
Cheteshwar Pujara	20	1,854	206*	66.21	6	7
Mohammad Azharuddin	46	3,412	199	55.93	13	11
Dilip Vengsarkar	54	3,725	166	55.59	13	15
Virender Sehwag	52	4,656	319	54.13	13	19
Navjot Singh Sidhu	23	1,726	131	53.93	5	9
Sachin Tendulkar	94	7,216	217	52.67	22	32
V V S Laxman	57	3,767	281	51.60	8	24
Rahul Dravid	70	5,598	222	51.35	15	27
Sunil Gavaskar	65	5,067	236*	50.16	16	23

The Indore Test provided the 13th instance of an Indian captain declaring both innings of a Test.

Most of these instances came at home as one would imagine, 11 to be precise and only two came outside India (Sydney, 2003-2004 and Chittagong, 2007).

This was only the second time when India went on to win after a double declaration.

The only other such instance had also been against New Zealand. At Bangalore in 1988-1989, Dilip Vengsarkar made the declarations in both innings and then went on to win the game by 172 runs.

Ashwin did not take long to cast his web around the New Zealand batsmen for the second time in the match. The visitors lost their way completely in the post-tea session on the fourth day, losing nine wickets.

Ashwin picked up seven of them giving away only 59 runs -- his best return in Test cricket.

Ashwin's match figures of 13/140 are his personal best (improving upon 12/85 also against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 2012) and the best by any Indian bowler against New Zealand.

There have been six instances of an Indian bowler taking 10 wickets in a match against New Zealand and Ashwin appears in three of them!

Best match figures for India versus New Zealand:

Figures	Bowler	Venue	Season	1st Innings	2nd Innings
13/140	Ravichandran Ashwin	Indore	2016-2017	6/81	7/59
12/85	Ravichandran Ashwin	Hyderabad	2012	6/31	6/54
12/152	S Venkataraghavan	Delhi	1964-1965	8/72	4/80
11/140	E A S Prasanna	Auckland	1975-1976	3/64	8/76
10/134	Anil Kumble	Kanpur	1999-2000	4/67	6/67
10/225	Ravichandran Ashwin	Kanpur	2016-2017	4/93	6/132

Ashwin'S figures are the best by a spinner and the second best by any bowler against New Zealand.

Best match figures versus New Zealand:

Figures	Bowler	Venue	Season	1st Innings	2nd Innings
13-55	Courtney Walsh	Wellington	1994-1995	7/37	6/18
13/140	Ravichandran Ashwin	Indore	2016-2017	6/81	7/59
12/85	Ravichandran Ashwin	Hyderabad	2012	6/31	6/54
12/97	Derek Underwood	Christchurch	1970-1971	6/12	6/85
12/101	Derek Underwood	The Oval	1969	6/41	6/60
12/130	Waqar Younis	Faisalabad	1990-1991	7/76	5/54
12/152	S Venkataraghavan	Delhi	1964/65	8/72	4/80

This was the sixth instance that Ashwin bagged ten wickets in a Test match.

Among the Indians only Anil Kumble is ahead of him with eight hauls. The frequency at which Ashwin has taken 10-wicket match hauls is simply astonishing.

Indians with most 10-wicket match hauls in Tests:

	10WM	Matches	Match/10WM
Anil Kumble	8	132	16.50
Ravichandran Ashwin	6	39	6.50
Harbhajan Singh	5	103	20.60
Irfan Pathan	2	29	14.50
Maninder Singh	2	35	17.50
Vinoo Mankad	2	44	22.00
E A S Prasanna	2	49	24.50
Bhagwat Chandrasekhar	2	58	29.00
Kapil Dev	2	131	65.50

Ashwin/s 10/225 at Kanpur and 13/140 at Indore made him only the second Indian to capture 10 wickets twice in the same series, after Harbhajan Singh who did so against Australia in 2000-2001.

Ashwin has also gone past Ishant Sharma (209 wickets) to become India's eighth highest wicket-taker of all time, a list headed by Anil Kumble (619 wickets).

And he enjoys the best average and best strike both!

Most wickets in Tests for India:

	Matches	Wickets	Best	Averaeg	Strike R	5WI	10WM
Anil Kumble	132	619	10/74	29.65	65.99	35	8
Kapil Dev	131	434	9-/83	29.64	63.91	23	2
Harbhajan Singh	103	417	8/84	32.46	68.53	25	5
Zaheer Khan	92	311	7/87	32.94	60.40	11	1
Bishen Singh Bedi	67	266	7/98	28.71	80.31	14	1
Bhagwat Chandrasekhar	58	242	8/79	29.74	65.96	16	2
Javagal Srinath	67	236	8/86	30.49	64.00	10	1
Ravichandran Ashwin	39	220	7/59	24.29	49.49	21	6
Ishant Sharma	72	209	7/74	36.71	66.61	7	1
E A S Prasanna	49	189	8/76	30.38	75.94	10	2

Clarrie Grimmett could not play more than 37 Tests and Syd Barnes ended his career with 27 Test appearances, so we don't know how many wickets they would have ended with had they continued.

Among all greats who had a fairly long Test careers, no one, yes, no one had taken as many wickets as Ashwin has taken at this stage of his career. Take a look:

Most wickets after first 39 Tests:

	Wickets	Average	SR	5WI	10WM
Ravichandran Ashwin	220	24.29	49.49	21	6
Clarrie Grimmett	216	24.22	67.19	21	7
Waqar Younis	208	20.56	38.59	19	4
Dennis Lillee	206	23.63	51.79	15	5
Dale Steyn	204	23.05	39.00	14	4
Stuart MacGill	191	27.35	52.07	12	2
Syd Barnes	189	16.43	41.66	24	7

Note: Harbhajan Singh held the previous Indian record with 172 wickets

Ashwin ended the series with 27 wickets against his name. He has now taken 25 wickets (or more) in a series on three occasions.

Among the Indians only one bowler -- Kapil Dev -- has done so more often.

Indians with most instances of 25 wickets in a series:

Occasions	Bowler	Series played
4	Kapil Dev	38
3	Ravichandran Ashwin	14
3	Bishen Singh Bedi	19

The series saw umpires giving batsmen out leg before wicket on as many as 33 occasions, with New Zealand batsmen at the receiving end 22 times and Indians 11 times.

There has been only one three match series where more LBWs were given, which was the Pakistan versus England series in the UAE in 2011-2012 in which 43 LBWs were registered.

New Zealand's 22 LBWs are the joint-most suffered by a side in a three-match, along with England.

Most LBWs in a three-match series:

LBWs	Teams	Venue	Season
43	Pak (21) vs England (22)	UAE	2011-2012
33	West Indies (16) vs Pakistan (17)	West Indies	1992-1993
33	India (11) vs New Zealand (22)	India	2016-2017
31	Pakistan (14) vs West Indies (17)	Pakistan	1986-1987
31	Australia (11) vs Pakistan (20)	Sri Lanka/UAE	2002-2003
30	England (18) vs India (12)	England	2007

The match ended on the fourth day with India registering its second biggest win in terms of runs.

The biggest ever win had come against South Africa only last season, with Kohli captaining the side on both occasions.

India's biggest Test wins (by run-margin):

Margin	Opponent	Venue	Season
337 runs	South Africa	Delhi	2015-2016
321 runs	New Zealand	Indore	2016-2017
320 runs	Australia	Mohali	2008-2009
280 runs	South Africa	Kanpur	1996-1997
279 runs	England	Leeds	1986
278 runs	Sri Lanka	Colombo PSS	2015
272 runs	New Zealand	Auckland	1967-1968
259 runs	Sri Lanka	Ahmedabad	2005-2006
255 runs	West Indies	Madras	1987-1988

The mammoth win also gave India only their fourth clean sweep in a series of three matches or more.

India making a clean-sweep in a series (minimum 3 Tests)

Score	Series	Season	Captain
4-0	vs Australia in India	2012-2013	M S Dhoni
3-0	vs England in India	1992-1993	M Azharuddin
3-0	vs Sri Lanka in India	1993-1994	M Azharuddin
3-0	vs New Zealand in India	2016-2017	Virat Kohli

India have now won four consecutive series -- vs Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka in 2015 (2-1), vs South Africa at home in 2015-16 (3-0), vs the West Indies in the West Indies (2-0) and now vs New Zealand at home.

There has been only one longer streak of consecutive series wins in India's entire Test history.

Between 2009 and 2010 India won five series in a row. They had also won four on the trot under Mohammad Azharuddin between 1993 and 1994.

Most consecutive series wins for India:

#	Season	Series	Score	Mts	Captain
5+	2008-2009	vs Australia in India	2-0	4	A Kumble/M S Dhoni
	2008-2009	vs England in India	1-0	2	M S Dhoni
	2008-2009	vs New Zealand in New Zealand	1-0	3	M S Dhoni/V Sehwag
	2009-2010	vs Sri Lanka in India	2-0	3	M S Dhoni
	2009-2010	vs Bangladesh in Bangladesh	2-0	2	V Sehwag/M S Dhoni
	1992-1993	vs England in India	3-0	3	M Azharuddin
	1992-1993	vs Zimbabwe in India	1-0	1	M Azharuddin
	1993-94	vs Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka	1-0	3	M Azharuddin
	1993-94	vs Sri Lanka in India	3-0	3	M Azharuddin
4*	2015	vs Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka	2-1	3	Virat Kohli
	2015-16	vs South Africa in India	3-0	4	Virat Kohli
	2016	vs West Indies in the West Indies	2-0	4	Virat Kohli
	2016-17	vs New Zealand in India	3-0	3	Virat Kohli

Note:

+India had a sequence of 11 undefeated series-W,W,W,W,W,D,D,W,W,D,W

++India had a sequence of 7 undefeated series: W,W,W,W,D,D,W

There was hardly any challenge to Ashwin winning yet another player of the series award -- his seventh in Test cricket.

Ashwin's seven player of series awards are the most by an Indian (Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar won five each).

There are only five players who have won more awards than Ashwin. The frequency at which Ashwin is winning his awards is simply mindblowing -- an award every two series on an average!

Ashwin has won player of the series awards in four consecutive series -- vs Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka (2015), vs South Africa in India (2015-16), vs the West Indies in West Indies (2016) and vs New Zealand in India (2016-17).

He now shares the world record of winning the most consecutive player of the series awards.

Most player of series awards in Tests:

Match of the Series awards	Player	Series played	Average Series/MoS award
11	Muttiah Muralitharan	62	5.64
9	Jacques Kallis	62	6.89
8	Richard Hadlee	33	4.13
8	Imran Khan	28	3.50
8	Shane Warne	46	5.75
7	Ravichandran Ashwin	14	2.00
7	Wasim Akram	43	6.14
7	S Chanderpaul	60	8.57

India's Test record at the end of the New Zealand series makes interesting reading: 502 Tests -- 251 at home, 251 abroad!