Nagpur Test, Statistical Highlights

Day 1

-For the ninth time in a row a captain winning the toss decided to bat first at Nagpur.

-Alastair Cook, Monty Panesar & Ian Blackwell made their Test debut for England. A total of 631 players have now represented England in Test cricket. This was the first instance since Johannesburg Test against South Africa when England gave debut caps to three players in a Test.

-Monty Panesar became first Sikh player to appear in a Test for England.

-Sreesanth made his Test debut for India. He became 253rd player to represent India in Test matches.

-Wasim Jaffer was making a comeback into Indian side. He had last played for India against England at Nottingham in August 2002. Interestingly ever since making his debut for India against South Africa at Mumbai in February 2000, Jaffer has appeared in just 8 Tests and missed as many as 55!

- Andrew Flintoff, playing his 57th Test, was captaining England for the first time in a Test. He had captained a first-class side only twice before. Both these games ended in a draw.

-Cook's 60 is the highest score by an England opening batsman in debut innings in the subcontinent since Richard Spooner's 71 at Calcutta against India in 1951-52 (Spooner was however playing his third Test. He had played two Tests without getting a chance to bat).

-Harbhajan's wicket of Ian Bell was his first in three Tests after sending down 544 deliveries. He had gone wicketless in two Tests against Pakistan. Harbhajan thus managed to keep his name away from the entirely unwanted record of sending down most consecutive deliveries with out taking a wicket. The record is still held by Dattu Phadkar who sent down 660 deliveries without taking a wicket between 1955-56 and 1958-59.

Day 2

-Paul Collingwood (134*) made his maiden Test century in his sixth Test. His previous best was 96 against Pakistan at Lahore in 2005-06. Interestingly Collingwood's scores in last 3 innings read as: 96, 80 and 134*.

-Collingwood became ninth England player to score a century in his debut innings against India. He is the first to do so since Nasser Hussain (128 at Birmingham in 1996).

-Collingwood also became the sixth England player to score a century in his debut innings against India in India. He is the first to do so since Ian Botham (114 at Bombay in 1979-80).

-Steve Harmison's 39 is the highest score by a number 10 batsman at Nagpur, beating the previous best of 32* by Sri Lanka's Rumesh Ratnayeke in 1986-87. Harmison just failed to obliterate his highest score in Tests - 42 against South Africa at Cape Town in 2004-05.

-The 60-run partnership between Paul Collingwood and Steve Harmison is the highest ninth wicket partnership by any side at Nagpur, bettering the 59-run partnership between Travis Friend and Raymond Price for Zimbabwe in 2001-02.

-Sreesanth's figures of 4-95 are the seventh best by an Indian pacer on debut. The record is on the name of Abid Ali who took 6 for 55 against Australia at Adelaide in 1967-68.

-Matthew Hoggard is proving to be Sehwag's nemesis. In nine innings Sehwag has played against England, Hoggard has now dismissed him on four occasions.

Day 3

-VVS Laxman was dismissed off the very first ball for the third time in his Test career. His other golden ducks were against Australia at Adelaide in 1999-00 (bowled by Damien Fleming) and against Pakistan at Calcutta in 2004-05 (lbw to Abdul Razzaq).

-Tendulkar was getting dismissed LBW for the 35th time in his career. With this he equalled Gordon Greenidge and Mike Atherton's tally of LBW dismissals. Now only Graham Gooch (50), Alec Stewart (40) and David Gower (36) are ahead of Tendulkar in getting out LBW most frequently.

-The 128-run partnership between Mohammad Kaif and Anil Kumble equalled India's best for the eighth wicket against England. Ravi Shastri and Syed Kirmani had also added 128 runs against England at Delhi in 1981-82.

-Overall it was the 13th century partnership for the eighth wicket for India.

-Mohammad Kaif (91) made his highest score in Test cricket. His previous best was 64 against Australia at Chennai in 2004-05.

-Kaif also became only the second Indian batsman to score a ninety in his debut innings against England after Rahul Dravid who had made 95 at Lord's in 1996.

-Anil Kumble (58) made his fourth fifty and third highest score in Test cricket. This was also his personal best against England bettering the 37 at Mohali in 2001-02.

-Matthew Hoggard (5-57) took five wickets in an innings for the sixth time in his career – first time against India. His previous best against India was 4 for 80 at Bangalore in 2001-02.

Day 4

-Matthew Hoggard's figures of 6 for 57 are the fifth best by an England bowler in India after John Lever's 7 for 46 at Delhi in 1976-77, Ian Botham's 7 for 48 at Bombay in 1979-80, Geoff Arnold's 6 for 45 at Delhi in 1972-73 and Bob Willis' 6 for 53 at Bangalore in 1976-77.

-The first wicket partnership of 95 runs between Strauss and Cook is England's best for the opening wicket in the third innings of a match not just in India but also in the sub-continent. The previous highest opening partnership in the third innings of a Test was of 94 runs between Richardson and Pullar also against India at Kanpur in 1961-62.

-Alastair Cook became the 16th English batsman to score a hundred on Test debut. He is also only the second England debutant to score a ton against India after Bryan Valentine who made 136 at Mumbai in 1933-34 in the first ever Test on Indian soil.

-Cook's match aggregate of 164 (60 + 104*) is the highest by an England player making his debut in the sub-continent. The previous highest was Bryan Valentine's 136 at Mumbai in 1933-34.

-Kumble and Harbhajan Singh bowled 62 overs between them and bagged just a single wicket. This is the most ineffective combined performance by the duo in the second innings of a match in India. Their previous worst was against Pakistan at Kolkata in 1998-99 where they bowled 43 overs for one wicket.

-Harbhajan Singh has now bowled 870 balls and conceded 527 runs while taking only two wickets in last three Tests! Interestingly he has been carted for as many as 15 sixes in last three Tests.

Day 5

-Wasim Jaffer (100) scored his maiden Test century in his eighth Test. He became only the third Indian opener (after Mushtaq Ali and Sunil Gavaskar) to score a century in the fourth innings of a Test.

-Jaffer's 100 followed his first innings 81. He thus became only the seventh Indian opener to score a hundred and a fifty in the same Test. Jaffer is the first since Navjot Sidhu (in 1994-95) to do so. Only three others – Vinoo Mankad, Farokh Engineer and Sunil Gavaskar – have performed this feat against England before Jaffer.

-Rahul Dravid completed his 1,000 runs against England. He became the tenth Indian batsman to do so. By taking only 15 innings to accomplish this feat, Dravid became the joint fastest among the Indians with Sachin Tendulkar. In terms of Tests, Dravid is second joint fastest (with Tendulkar) after Mohammad Azharuddin, who reached this milestone in his ninth Test (16th innings).

-Jaffer and Dravid added 167 runs for the second wicket. The duo had also added 129 runs for the second wicket in India's first innings. Jaffer-Dravid pair thus became only the second Indian pair to get involved in century partnership for the same wicket in both innings of a Test. Mohinder Amarnath and Mohd. Azharuddin had added 110 & 190 runs for the fourth wicket at Madras in 1984-85.

-Ever since Sachin Tendulkar made his debut, India's total of 260 for six is their highest on the fifth day of the fourth innings of a Test. The previous record was of 190 runs (for the loss of 3 wickets) against Zimbabwe at Delhi in 2000-01.

-Matthew Hoggard won his fourth man of the match award. His other awards were against Sri Lanka at Birmingham in 2002, against South Africa at Johannesburg in 2004-05 and against Bangladesh at Chester-le-street in 2005.