Cook's night in Edgbaston

Alastair Cook’s score in Edgbaston against the West Indies is the second highest individual score made in a day-night Test.

5

The number of day-night Tests played so far. The Edgbaston Test between England and West Indies was the first to be played in England. The other venues to host day-night Tests are: Adelaide (two), Dubai and Brisbane. Interestingly, all the day-night Tests played so far have ended in a result!

243

Alastair Cook’s score in the Edgbaston Test: the second highest individual score made in a day-night Test after Pakistan’s Azhar Ali’s unbeaten 302, also against West Indies, in Dubai last October.

11

The number of ODI centuries made by Shikhar Dhawan in his career. He attained the mark in his 86th innings in the Dambulla ODI. Among Indians only Virat Kohli has reached this mark in fewer innings — 82!

Given below is the list of batsmen who took fewer matches to reach 11 ODI centuries:

Inns	(Mts)	Batsman	For	Achieved on
64	(66)	Hashim Amla	South Africa	17 March 2013
65	(65)	Quinton de Kock	South Africa	30 September 2013
82	(85)	Virat Kohli	India	18 March 2012
86	(88)	David Warner	Australia	9 December 2016
86	(87)	Shikhar Dhawan	India	20 August 2017

 

4005

The number of ODI runs made by Virat Kohli in successful run chases. He, thus, became only the third batsman in ODI history to aggregate over 4000 runs in successful chases during his unbeaten knock of 82 in the recent Dambulla ODI.   The others who have scored more runs than Kohli are Sachin Tendulkar 5490 runs @ 55.45 and Australian Ricky Ponting 4186 runs @ 57.34.

The table below lists batsmen with the highest ODI batting averages in successful run chases (minimum 1000 runs), led by India’s M.S. Dhoni.

Avg	Mts	Inns	No	Runs	S/R	HS	100s	50s	Batsman	For
99.16	94	64	39	2479	89.78	183*	2	16	MS Dhoni	India
97.68	68	65	24	4005	98.06	183	16	18	Virat Kohli	India
86.25	75	45	25	1725	86.25	107	3	12	Michael Bevan	Australia
84.66	62	58	28	2540	84.66	136*	5	18	AB de Villiers	South Africa
81.15	25	21	8	1055	81.15	133*	3	5	Joe Root	England

 

7

The number of wickets lost by India in 39 balls during its successful run chase in the second ODI at Pallekele after the openers had put on 109 runs off 92 balls!

The three phases in India’s run chase:

Overs	Runs	Wkts	R/w	R/o
15.2	109		—	7.10
6.3	22	7	3.14	3.38
22.3	100		—	4.44
44.2	231	7	33.00	5.21

 

12

The number of occasions the Sri Lankan bowlers have claimed six-plus-wicket hauls in ODIs. Akila Dananjaya became the 10th Sri Lankan bowler to take six or more wickets in an ODI (versus India at Pallekele). Unfortunately, he also became the first Sri Lankan bowler to do so in a lost cause.

2

The number of times a bowler with a six-wicket haul has ended up on the losing side in ODIs against India. Akila Dananjaya (6-54 at Pallekele) became only the second bowler after Pakistan’s Imran Khan to claim a six-wicket haul against India in a losing game. Imran had claimed 6-14 in Sharjah in March 1985, when India beat Pakistan by 38 runs. Batting first, the Indians were all out for 125, but dismissed their opponents for a paltry 87!

THIS WEEK IN 1979 September 4 Sunil Gavaskar scores 221 against England in 490 minutes, off 443 balls with 21 fours in the fourth innings at The Oval. But the match ends in a draw, as India reaches 429-8, nine short of the target of 438 runs. Gavaskar’s 221 was then the second highest score in the fourth innings of a Test match!

 

QUERIES CORNER I understand Allan Border is the only batsman in Test cricket to make two scores of 150-plus in the same match. Is it true? Yes, Allan Border is the only batsman in Test history to make two scores of 150-plus in the same match. He made an unbeaten 150 and 153 against Pakistan in Lahore in March 1980. Who is the first batsman in Ranji Trophy to reach 1000 runs? That distinction goes to Bombay’s Vijay Merchant who, on October 29, 1938, during his unbeaten innings of 143 against Baroda at the Baroda’s Central College Ground, reached his 1000th run when on 137. He was then playing in his 11th Ranji Trophy game and 21st innings. Has any Indian bowler taken a wicket off the very first ball of a Test match? Only two Indians have achieved this: Syed Abid Ali against West Indies in Port of Spain in 1970-71 (victim was Roy Fredericks) and Kapil Dev, who has done it twice — first in Jalandhar against Pakistan in 1983-84 (victim: Mohsin Khan) and then in Durban against South Africa in 1992-93 (victim: Jimmy Cook). How many ODI centuries have been made so far, and how many of them are by left-handers? So far, 1597 centuries have been scored in ODIs since the first recorded match in August 1972. Of these, 532 centuries have been made by left-handers, which is 33% of the total centuries scored. How many players have scored 1000 runs and also taken 100 wickets in T20 internationals?   So far, no player has managed to achieve this all-rounder’s double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in T20I. The closest anyone has come in achieving this rare double is Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi. In 98 T20I games, he scored 1405 runs but fell short by three wickets to reach the 100 mark! Note:  All figures above are updated till the end of the second ODI at Pallekele on August 24, 2017. Readers may send in their queries to sportstar@thehindu.co.in