Which Indian has the best average in the 4th innings?

Rajneesh Gupta presents all the numbers from the first Test in Rajkot.

 

The draw in the Rajkot Test ended India's winning streak at home.

Before the first Test against England, India had won 12 consecutive Tests (excluding the rain-marred Bangalore Test against South Africa).

The last Test to be drawn in India was the Nagpur Test in December 2012, also against England.

Rajkot's Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium became the 23rd Indian ground and 110th ground in the world to host a Test.

Indore's Holkar Cricket Stadium became the 22nd Indian Test ground when it hosted the Test against New Zealand.

When he came out for the toss with Virat Kohli, it was a special occasion for Alastair Cook.

It was the 55th time Cook was leading England -- a record. He went ahead of Michael Atherton's tally of 54 Tests as England's captain.

Most Tests as England's captain

	Matches	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win%
Alastair Cook	55	24	18	13	43.64
Michael Atherton	54	13	21	20	24.07
Michael Vaughan	51	26	11	14	50.98
Andrew Strauss	50	24	11	15	48.00
Nasser Hussain	45	17	15	13	37.78
Peter May	41	20	10	11	48.78
Graham Gooch	34	10	12	12	29.41
David Gower	32	5	18	9	15.63
Mike Brearley	31	18	4	9	58.06
Ray Illingworth	31	12	5	14	38.71
Ted Dexter	30	9	7	14	30.00

When Cookie won the toss, it was after eight consecutive Tests that a visiting captain had won the toss in India.

The sequence extends back to the second Test versus the West Indies, all four Tests against South Africa and all three against New Zealand.

This was the first time Virat Kohli had lost a toss at home.

It was also a milestone Test for Stuart Broad. It was the English fast bowler's 100th Test, only the 14th Englishman to play 100 Tests.

For the first time in its Test history, England had four players of Asian origin in the playing eleven: Opener Haseeb Hameed, all-rounder Moeen Ali, leg-spinner Adil Rashid and leftarm spinner Zafar Ansari.

Haseeb, who made his Test debut in Rajkot (his parents hail from Gujarat), became the 674th player to represent England in Test cricket.

At 19 years, 297 days Hameed is the fifth youngest Englishman to make his Test debut. He is also the youngest ever to open the innings for England.

Youngest to play Test cricket for England

Age	Player	Opponent	Venue	Season
18 years, 149 days	Brian Close	New Zealand	Manchester	1949
19 years, 32 days	Jack Crawford	South Africa	Johannesburg	1905-1906
19 years, 83 days	Dennis Compton	New Zealand	The Oval	1937
19 years, 269 days	Ben Hollioake	Australia	Nottingham	1997
19 years, 297 days	Haseeb Hameed	India	Rajkot	2016
19 years, 338 days	Ian Peebles	South Africa	Johannesburg	1927-1928

England ended day one at 311/4, one of the best performances for a visiting side on the opening day of a first Test in India.

Best opening day of a series in India by visiting teams

(batting first)

Total	For	Venue	Season	Series Result
316/5	Australia	Bangalore	2004-2005	Australia won 2-1
316/7	Australia	Chennai	2012-2013	India won 4-0
312	Pakistan	Mohali	2004-2005	Drawn 1-1
311/8	Sri Lanka	Madras	1982-1983	India won 1-0
311/4	England	Rajkot	2016-2017	Drawn
304/4	South Africa	Chennai	2007-2008	Drawn 1-1
294/3	West Indies	Delhi	1948-1049	West Indies won 1-0
291/2	South Africa	Nagpur	2009-2010	Drawn 1-1
288/3	England	Bombay, Brabourne Stadium	1961-1962	India won 2-0
280/4	Sri Lanka	Mohali	1997-1998	Drawn 0-0

Joe Root's hundred on the opening day of the Test was the first for a visiting side in 13 Tests in India.

Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes also scored hundreds on the second day as England amassed 537 runs, its third highest total in India.

With Root, Moeen and Stokes scoring centuries in the England innings, this was the first instance since 2009 and only the 10th overall of three batsmen from the visiting side scoring centuries in the same innings.

Seven of the previous 9 instances ended in a draw and one in the historical tie.

Only once did the visiting side win the Test:

Most 100s in an innings versus India in India

100s	Total	For	Venue	Season	Result
4	631	West Indies	Delhi	1948-1949	Drawn
4	630/6d	New Zealand	Mohali	2003-2004	Drawn
3	614/5d	West Indies	Calcutta	1958-1959	West Indies on by an innings and 336 runs
3	644/8d	West Indies	Delhi	1958-1959	Drawn
3	497/5	England	Kanpur	1961-1962	Drawn
3	574/7d	Australia	Madras	1986-1987	Match tied
3	530/5d	Wes Indies	Calcutta	1987-1988	Drawn
3	497	West Indies	Kolkata	2002-2003	Drawn
3	760/7d	Sri Lanka	Ahmedabad	2009-2010	Drawn
3	537	England	Rajkot	2016	Drawn

Ravichandran Ashwin conceded 167 runs in 46 overs while picking up two wickets in the first innings -- one of his worst performances at home.

Four of his worst five performances at home have come against England. Take a look:

Ashwin's worst performances at home

Runs	Wickets	Versus	Venue	Season
183	3	England	Kolkata	2012
167	2	England	Rajkot	2016
145	2	England	Mumbai	2012
137	2	West Indies	Kolkata	2012
111	1	England	Ahmedabad	2012

Cheteshwar Pujara scored his 9th Test hundred, his 7th in India and his 3rd against England.

Pujara now holds a unique distinction of scoring a hundred in the first-ever Test played on his home ground, Rajkot. Only two other Indians hold this record.

Indians with a hundred in the first-ever Test on their home ground

Batsman	Score	Vs	Ground	Season
Rusi Modi	112	West Indies	Bombay, Brabourne Stadium	1948-49
Eknath Solkar	102	West Indies	Bombay, Wankhede Stadium	1975
Cheteshwar Pujara	124	England	Rajkot	2016

Pujara added 209 runs with Murali Vijay for the second wicket -- India's second highest partnership for this wicket against England.

The highest remains the 314 run partnership between Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid at Mohali in 2008-2009.

Vijay and Pujara also completed 2,000 runs as a pair, becoming the 13th Indian pair to accomplish this feat.

Interestingly, they have the highest average among 13 Indian pairs.

Most prolific Indian pairs in Tests

(Minimum 2,000 runs added together)

Pair	Innings	Runs	Best	Average	100-Stands
Murli Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara	33	2,128	370	64.48	6
Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly	71	4,173	281	61.36	12
Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid	58	3,383	410	60.41	10
Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azharuddin	42	2,385	222	58.17	9
Sunil Gavaskar, Mohinder Amarnath	44	2,366	224	55.02	10
Gauram Gambhir, Rahul Dravid	47	2,530	314	55.00	7
Chetan Chauhan, Sunil Gavaskar	60	3,127	213	54.85	11
Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly	68	3,294	194*	53.12	10
Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag	87	4,412	233	52.52	11
Rahil Dravid, V V S Laxman	86	4,065	376	51.45	12
Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman	73	3,523	353	51.05	9
Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar	143	6,920	249	50.51	20
Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar	67	3,272	344*	50.33	10

Virat Kohli, who looked set to play a long innings, got out in a bizarre way.

While trying to play an Adil Rashid delivery to mid-wicket, Kohli stepped on the leg-stump, thus becoming the 20th Indian to get out hit-wicket.

Mohinder Amarnath got out in this fashion three times.

Indian batsmen out hit-wicket in Tests versus England

Player	Score	Venue	Season	Bowler
Dilip Sardesai	28	Kanpur	1961-1962	Tony Lock
Madan Lal	7	Old Trafford	1974	Bob Willis
Ashok Mankad	43	Edgbaston	1974	Chris Old
Brijesh Patel	21	Calcutta	1977	Bob Willis
Virat Kohli	40	Rajkot	2016	Adil Rashid

Virat has also been out hit wicket in a One-Day International -- at Cardiff in 2011 off Graeme Swann after scoring 107, also against England!

This makes him only the second Indian batsman (and 10th overall) to be out in this fashion in both Tests and ODIs, after Nayan Mongia.

Alastair Cook and Haseeb Hameed added 180 runs for the opening wicket in England's second innings.

This is the highest opening partnership by any visiting side in India in their second innings in a Test, obliterating New Zealand's Matt Horne and Gary Stead's 131 runs at Ahmedabad in 1999.

Cookie and Haseeb's partnership is also England's highest opening partnership in India -- in the first or second innings -- beating the 178 run partnership between Graeme Fowler and Tim Robinson at Madras) in 1984-1985.

Haseeb was unlucky to miss out on a well deserved hundred. He can take some solace that he now holds the record of being the youngest to score a Test 50 for England at the age of 19 years, 300 days.

Also his match tally of 113 runs (31 and 82) is the highest for an England teenager in his debut Test, surpassing Jack Crawford's 87 in 1905-1906.

Cook's 30th Test hundred puts him ahead of the Don in the centurions list.

It took Cookie 136 Tests for his 30th Test ton. The Don scored his 29 centuries in just 52 Tests.

Cook has now scored more hundreds than any other visiting batsman in India.

Most 100s versus India in India

100s	Player	For	Matches	Innings	Innings/100
5	Alastair Cook	England	9	18	3.60
4	Everton Weekes	West Indies	5	7	1.75
4	Clive Lloyd	West Indies	14	22	5.50
4	Hashim Amla	South Africa	10	17	4.25

Cook has also scored 9 hundreds in Asia, the most scored by a non-Asian batsman. He went ahead of South Africa's Jacques Kallis in Rajkot.

Most 100s by non-Asian batsmen in Asia

100s	Player	For	Mts	Innings	Innings/100
9	Alastair Cook	England	24	47	5.22
8	Jacques Kallis	South Africa	25	44	5.50
7	Hashim Amla	South Africa	23	39	5.57
6	Allan Border	Australia	22	39	6.50
5	Brian Lara	West Indies	14	26	5.20
5	Darren Bravo	West Indies	17	31	6.20
5	Andy Flower	Zimbabwe	21	38	7.60
5	Ricky Ponting	Australia	28	48	9.60

England's match tally of 797 runs for the loss of 13 wickets is its highest in a Test in India, beating 741 for the loss of 15 wickets at Kanpur in 1961-1962.

This is also the 7th best performance by any visiting side in India.

Most runs by a visiting side in a Test in India

Runs-Wickets	For	Venue	Season	Innings1	Innings2	Result
885/16	Zimbabwe	Nagpur	2000-2001	382	503/6d	Drawn
871/15	South Africa	Chennai	2007-2008	540	331/5d	Drawn
831/12	Pakistan	Bangalore	2004	570	261/2d	Won
809/9	West Indies	Mumbai	1975	604/6d	205/3d	Won
808/19	Pakistan	Mohali	2004	312	496/9d	Drawn
798/18	New Zealand	Hyderabad	2011	350	448/8d	Drawn
797/13	England	Rajkot	2016	537	260/3d	Drawn
795/13	South Africa	Kolkata	1996	428	367/3d	Won
760/7	Sri Lanka	Ahmedabad	2009	760/7d		Drawn
744/12	Australia	Chennai	1986	574/d	170/5d	Tied
744/13	West Indies	Mohali	1994	443	301/3d	Won

,font size=7>Ravichandran Ashwin had an entirely forgettable outing as he went for 230 runs in the Test while picking up only 3 wickets.

In comparison he conceded 225 runs against New Zealand at Kanpur in the last series, but took 10 wickets in the match.

Most runs conceded by Indian bowlers in a home Test

	Overs	Runs	Wickets	Opponent	Venue	Season
Harbhajan Singh	78.5	265	8	South Africa	Chennai	2007
Sadu Shinde	108.3	253	8	England	Delhi	1951
Anil Kumble	67	247	1	Pakistan	Bangalore	2004
Subhash Gupte	88	244	5	West Indies	Chennai	1958
Anil Kumble	76	236	6	Pakistan	Mohali	2004
Bhagwat Chandrasekhar	92.5	235	11	West Indies	Bombay, Brabourne Stadium	1966-67
Anil Kumble	89	233	10	England	Ahmedabad	2001
Karsan Ghavri	52	232	6	West Indies	Mumbai	1975
Dilip Doshi	68	232	8	Sri Lanka	Madras	1982
Ravichandran Ashwin	69.3	230	3	England	Rajkot	2016
Ravichandran Ashwin	66.2	225	10	New Zealand	Kanpur	2016

England set India a winning target of 310 runs in a minimum of 49 overs (The Englishmen bowled more overs than that) -- at a run-rate of over 6.

The highest run-rate ever achieved by any side to successfully chase down a target of 300 or more in the 4th innings is 5.25.

Perhaps England missed a trick there as Cook & Co could have given themselves a few more overs to bowl out India.

Highest run-rate in fourth innings successful chases of 300+

Runs Per Over	For	Total	Opponent	Venue	Season
5.25	Pakistan	302/5	Sri Lanka	Sharjah	2013-14
5.19	West Indies	344/1	England	Lord's	1984
4.29	England	315/4	Australia	Leeds	2001
4.21	Australia	334/6	South Africa	Cape Town	2001
3.92	India	387/4	England	Chennai	2008-2009

Captain Kohli steered India out of trouble. His dogged batting -- first with Ashwin and then with Ravindra Jadeja -- meant India ended the Test with a draw.

Virat's mastery in ODI and T20 chases is well-known, but his performance in Test cricket under extreme pressure has not been given much attention.

It may be difficult to believe, but Virat Kohli has the highest batting average in the fourth innings of Tests among all Indian batsmen who have aggregated 500 or more runs.

Highest batting average in 4th innings in Tests

(Minimum 500 runs for India)

	Inns	Runs	Highest Score	Average	100	50
Virat Kohli	15	718	141	65.27	2	4
Sunil Gavaskar	33	1,398	221	58.25	4	8
Rahul Dravid	56	1,552	103*	40.84	1	9
V V S Laxman	38	1,095	103*	40.55	1	7
Sourav Ganguly	32	864	101*	37.56	1	3
Sachin Tendulkar	60	1625	136	36.93	3	7
Gundappa Viswanath	24	668	112	33.40	1	4
Mohammad Azharuddin	22	610	108*	32.10	2	1
Virender Sehwag	33	894	83	31.92	0	8
Dilip Vengsarkar	25	613	146*	29.19	1	3

Among all the teams to tour India in last five years, England have the best record.

Of the five Tests England have played, it has won two, lost one and drawn two.

The combined tally of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies during this period reads: No win, 16 losses and two draws!

Visiting sides in India since 2011

	Tests	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win%
England	5	2	1	2	40.00
WI, NZ, Aus, SA	18	0	16	2	0.00