Statistical highlights (4th day) at Ahmedabad
by Mohandas Menon
-- Mark Butcher (92) was dismissed for his first score in the nineties in 34
matches. His previous highest score in double figures was the 87 he made
against Australia at Lord's in 1997.
-- The partnership of 112 between Butcher and Naseer Hussain was the best at
this ground for the second wicket bettering the previous best of 83 between
Indians Navjot Singh Sidhu and Vinod Kambli against Sri Lanka in February
1994.
-- Nasser Hussain's 50 was his fifth in his last six Test matches. Prior to
this he had registered fifties only twice in 14 Tests.
-- James Foster (on 3) reached exactly1000 first-class runs of his career in
his 27th match and 42nd innings since his debut in 2000.
-- Harbhajan Singh - 5-71 in the second innings - had claimed 5-51 in the
last Test at Mohali, which was the best bowling figures by an Indian
off-spinner against England, has now emulated another off-spinner Ghulam
Ahmed to take his second five wicket haul against England. The latter had
figures of 5-70 at Kanpur in January 1952 and 5-100 at Leeds in June 1952.
These four instances are the only five-wicket hauls by an Indian off-spinner
against England. Interestingly, the other two famous off-spinners - Erapalli
Prasanna and S Venkataraghavan - never managed a five-wicket haul against
England.
-- The three wickets in the second innings by Anil Kumble were his tenth for
the match. His 10-233 was his fourth ten-plus wicket haul in 65 matches.
This performance by Kumble is notable specially when you consider that no
other Indian bowler has ever taken ten-plus wicket hauls on three occasions.
Among bowlers who have twice achieved such hauls are: Vinoo Mankad, E
Prasanna, B Chandrasekhar, Kapil Dev, Maninder Singh and Harbhajan Singh.
-- These ten wickets has taken Kumble's wicket tally to 299 and has placed
him in the 18th position among all-time Test bowlers with maximum wickets.
His three wickets in the second innings also took him past the tally of 297
wickets of England's left-arm spinner Derek Underwood. This would mean that
among spinners only Australian Shane Warne (413 wickets in 95 matches), Sri
Lankan Muthiah Muralitharan (374 in 69) and former West Indian off-spinner
Lance Gibbs (307 in 79) have more Test wickets than Kumble.
-- India's target of 374 has never been achieved in a Test match on Indian
soil by any team. West Indies, incidentally, have the distinction of making
the maximum runs to win in the fourth innings when they made 276 for 5 to
defeat India at the Feroz Shah Kotla at Delhi in November 1987. India had
made 347 runs in the fourth innings against Australia at Chepauk in
September 1986 only to tie the match. Meanwhile, the highest score ever made
by any team in the last innings in India is the 364-6 by the home team while
chasing Pakistan's target of 389 at Delhi in December 1979 - the match was
drawn!
-- Left-armer Ashley Giles became the first English spinner to take the new
ball in a Test match since off-spinner Peter Such did so against Australia
at Birmingham in August 1993. The latter had the distinction of opening the
bowling with paceman Martin Bicknell in the second innings. Interestingly,
the last English spinner to do so in an overseas Test match was another
left-arm spinner Phil Edmonds, who shared the new ball with Norman Cowans
against India at Bombay in December 1984. Edmonds, in fact had the first
bowl, although it should be noted at that stage India in the fourth innings
need just 48 runs to win
Also read: Match Report
England's tour of India : Complete coverage