Firing on ten cylinders

This week’s column is inspired by Ajit Krishnan, a resident of Chennai, and an avid reader of Sportstar.

India's captain Virat Kohli, who was dismissed for three, was the only batsman who did not manage a double-digit score in the first innings against Sri Lanka in the Galle Test.

In the first Test of the ongoing India-Sri Lanka series, in Galle, 10 of India’s batsmen made double-digit scores in the first innings. Virat Kohli, who was dismissed for three, was the only batsman who did not manage this.

There has been only one instance of all 11 players from a visiting team making double-digit scores against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. This was achieved by Allan Border’s Australian team at the Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo, during its famous win in 1992. If Kohli had managed to score at least 10 runs in the first innings of the Galle Test, India would have become only the second visiting team to achieve this feat.

The last time that at least 10 Indian batsmen made double-digit scores in an away Test was almost 10 years ago. This happened at The Oval, during the first innings of the third Test of the India-England series, in 2007. In fact, in the match, all 11 Indian batsmen made double-digit scores, including 110 runs by Anil Kumble, 92 by M. S. Dhoni, 91 by Dinesh Karthik, 82 by Sachin Tendulkar and 55 by Rahul Dravid. There have only been two instances when all 11 Indian batsmen made double-digit scores in an away Test. Apart from the instance mentioned above, the only other occasion when this happened was during India’s five-wicket victory against New Zealand in Dunedin in 1968.

Occasions when 10 or more Indian batsmen made double-digit scores in an away Test