A veteran's run

India's Ashish Nehra catches the ball as he prepares to bowl his final over in his last international cricket match.

38

Ashish Nehra’s age when he played his final international match (against New Zealand) at his home ground, the Feroz Shah Kotla, in Delhi. At 38 years, 186 days he became the second oldest to appear in a T20 international for India. The table below has the details:

Oldest to play for India in T20Is

Age	Player	Against	Venue	Date
38y-232d	Rahul Dravid	England	Manchester	31 Aug 2011
38y-186d	Ashish Nehra	New Zealand	Delhi	1 Nov 2017
36y-120d*	M. S. Dhoni	New Zealand	Rajkot	4 Nov 2017
35y-244d	Harbhajan Singh	UAE	Mirpur	3 Mar 2016
35y-51d	Yuvraj Singh	England	Bangalore	1 Feb 2017

*career still in progress

18

The number of years Ashish Nehra played for India across all formats. At 18 years 250 days, he began his Test career in the Asian Test Championships against Sri Lanka at the SSC, Colombo, in February 1999. He now has the fourth longest career by an Indian player in international cricket. See the table below for details.

Longest international careers for India

Age	Player	From	to	Intl mts	Tests	ODIs	T20Is
24y-1d	Sachin Tendulkar	15 Nov 1989	16 Nov 2013	664	200	463	1
19y-310d	Mohinder Amarnath	24 Dec 1969	30 Oct 1989	154	69	85	-
19y-0d	Lala Amarnath	15 Dec 1933	15 Dec 1952	24	24	-	-
18y-250d	Ashish Nehra	24 Feb 1999	1 Nov 2017	164	17	120	27
18y-214d	S. Venkataraghavan	27 Feb 1965	29 Sep 1983	72	57	15	-

 

158

The opening partnership between Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma in the Delhi T20I match. During their record-breaking stand, they surpassed the following marks in T20I.

* When on 77, the highest opening stand against New Zealand for India (76: Gautam Gambhir & Virender Sehwag, vs. New Zealand in Johannesburg, 16-9-2007).

* On 78, the highest opening stand for India at home (77: Gautam Gambhir & Ajinkya Rahane, vs. Pakistan in Bangalore, 25-12-2012).

* On 137, the highest opening stand for India (136: Gautam Gambhir & Virender Sehwag, vs England in Durban, 19-9-2007).

* On 139, the highest stand for India for any wicket (138: 2nd wicket; Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli, vs. South Africa in Dharamsala, 2-10-2015).

* On 144, the highest stand against New Zealand for any wicket (143*: 1st wicket; Michael Lumb & Alex Hales for England in Wellington, 15-2-2013).

* Their partnership is the third highest for the opening wicket, and the sixth highest for any wicket in all T20 internationals. The table below has the details.

Highest partnerships for any wicket in T20 internationals

Runs	Wkt	Batsman1	Batsman2	For	Opp	Venue	Date
171*	1	M. Guptill	K. Williamson	NZ	Pak	Hamilton	17-Jan-2016
170	1	G. Smith	L. Bosman	SAf	Eng	Centurion	15-Nov-2009
166	2	M. Jayawardene	K. Sangakkara	SL	WI	Bridgetown	7-May-2010
161	4	D. Warner	G. Maxwell	Aus	SAf	Johannesburg	6-Mar-2016
159	2	A. Hales	R. Bopara	Eng	WI	Nottingham	24-June-2012
158	1	R. Sharma	S. Dhawan	Ind	NZ	Delhi	1-Nov-2017

 

4

The number of batsmen who have registered two T20I centuries during their career. The latest entrant is New Zealand’s Colin Munro, who made the mark in Rajkot (November 4, 2017) after having scored his maiden century (101) earlier this year against Bangladesh. The others are: Brendon McCullum (New Zealand; 116* in 2010 & 123 in 2012); Chris Gayle (West Indies; 117 in 2007 & 100* in 2016) and Evin Lewis (West Indies; 100 in 2016 & 125* in 2017). Incidentally, Munro is the first batsman to score two T20I centuries in the same calendar year!

THIS WEEK IN 1989 & 2013 November 15 (1989) At 16 years 205 days, Sachin Tendulkar becomes the youngest Indian, and the third youngest to appear in a Test match, when he makes his debut against Pakistan in Karachi. Currently, he is the fifth youngest overall to appear in a Test match. November 16 (2013) At 40 years 206 days, Sachin Tendulkar becomes the fifth oldest player to appear in a Test match for India, when he plays his final Test (his record 200th) against West Indies at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Overall, his career spanned 24 years 1 day for India!

 

QUERIES CORNER Was it the first time India lost an ODI match in which Virat Kohli had scored a hundred? This happened recently at the Wankhede Stadium. — Rajesh Kamath, Chennai In Virat Kohli’s 32 ODI centuries, India have won 27 times, but lost on five occasions. However, this is the first time that India have lost an ODI in the 14 centuries that he has made at home. Walter Hammond, playing for Gloucestershire against Surrey, took 10 catches in the match (wicket-keepers excluded) in the year 1928. Is this a world record? If so, who held the earlier record? — B. K. Harinath, Mysuru Walter Hammond, playing for Gloucestershire against Surrey in Cheltenham in August 1928, held 10 catches in the match (four in the first innings and six in the second), which still remains a world record — even after 89 years! — by a fielder with most catches in a first-class match. The previous record was eight catches, held by the following fielders: For the record, Rikki Clarke in August 2011 held 9 catches as a fielder for Warwickshire against Lancashire in Liverpool, the second best after Hammond. Has it ever happened that a team, after putting the opposition in to bat in a Test, has lost the match by an innings? — B. K. Harinath, Mysuru This is a very common occurrence in Test cricket. Recently, Bangladesh, in Bloemfontein, provided the 33rd such instance in Test cricket — they lost the match by an innings and 254 runs after winning the toss and putting South Africa in to bat. This, incidentally, is the third biggest defeat under such circumstances in Test history. For the record, the biggest such defeat is the one suffered by Zimbabwe, who lost by an innings and 301 runs to New Zealand in Napier in January 2012. India, incidentally, are the only Test side without this dubious distinction. Rest of the nine sides have lost a Test by an innings after putting their opponents in to bat. England have lost the most in this manner: six times! South Africa, in the East London ODI against Bangladesh, made 369-6 without a single batsman scoring a century. Faf du Plessis’ 91 was the highest. Is this the highest total in ODIs without a century? — Ajay Kumar, Mumbai South Africa’s 369 in East London is the second highest total in ODIs without a single century. The highest total without a century was also by South Africa — 392-6 in 50 overs against Pakistan in Centurion on February 4, 2007. The innings had four scores in the fifties, with Jacques Kallis registering the highest score of 88 not out. Note: All figures above are updated as on Nov. 4, 2017. Readers may send in their queries to sportstar@thehindu.co.in