Bumrah joins an elite club

Queries Corner

In the recent Test match at Antigua, Jasprit Bumrah claimed his 50th wicket in his 11th Test match. Since he is yet to appear in a Test match at home, is this the quickest to 50 wickets by any Indian bowler while playing Tests away from home? – Anil Badrinath, Tirupati

Both Subash Gupte (in 1959) and E. A. S. Prasanna (in 1968) also claimed their 50th Test wicket in their 11th overseas Test. However, the Indian record stands in the name of Irfan Pathan, who managed to claim 50 away wickets in just nine Test matches in September 2005 (in Zimbabwe). However, Bumrah’s case is unique since all his first 50 wickets have come away from home.

Jasprit Bumrah’s five-wicket haul at North Sound had four bowled dismissals. Is this some sort of a record by an Indian in Tests? – Vijay Tiwari, Delhi

Jasprit Bumrah’s four bowled dismissals in the recent North Sound Test make him the 11th Indian bowler to claim four or more bowled dismissals in a Test innings. This includes three bowlers – Jasu Patel and Bapu Nadkarni in 1960-61 at home and Anil Kumble in 1992-93 in South Africa – who have the distinction of claiming five bowled dismissals in an innings. Eight other Indian bowlers – including Kumble again! – have managed four bowled dismissals in an innings. However, Bumrah becomes the first Indian pace bowler to achieve this. For the record, among Indian bowlers who have claimed three or more bowled dismissals, Kapil Dev and Mohammed Shami have achieved this on four separate occasions!

When Ajinkya Rahane’s scored his 10th career Test hundred in the recent match at Antigua, was it the longest he has taken between two Test hundreds? What has been his recent record in Tests? – Akhil Patwardhan, Pune

Ajinkya Rahane’s 102 at North Sound was the 10th Test century of his career. His ninth century came way back in the first week of August 2017 – the 132 he made at the SSC, Colombo. Since then, it’s been 29 innings in 777 runs at an average of 26.79 with six fifties (his highest scores have been 81 twice and an 80). His 29 innings is by far his longest spell without a Test century. He also had a spell of 17 innings without a Test century between October 2016 and July 2017.