Pant makes a mark

Rishabh Pant is now the youngest Test wicketkeeper to register a score of more than 150 and the first Asian to aggregate 350 or more runs and claim 20 or more dismissals in a single Test series, and more.

Rishabh Pant celebrates his century at Sydney.

21

Rishabh Pant’s age when he scored an unbeaten 159 at Sydney. At 21 years, 92 days, he is now the youngest wicketkeeper in Test history to register a score of more than 150.

Youngest wicketkeepers to make 150-plus scores in Tests

Wicketkeeper	Age	Runs	Country	Opponent	Venue	Month, year	Result
Rishabh Pant	21 years, 92 days	159*	India	Australia	Sydney	January 2019	Drawn
Tatenda Taibu	21 years, 248 days	153	Zimbabwe	Bangladesh	Dhaka	January 2005	Drawn
Clyde Walcott	22 years, 298 days	152	West Indies	India	Delhi	November 1948	Drawn
Kamran Akmal	23 years, 323 days	154	Pakistan	England	Lahore	December 2005	Won
Denesh Ramdin	23 years, 353 days	166	West Indies	England	Bridgetown	March 2009	Drawn

Note: Taibu was also the captain.

6

The number of wicketkeepers to aggregate 350 or more runs and also claim 20 or more dismissals in a single Test series. Rishabh Pant is now the latest to do so, becoming the first Asian to achieve this rare feat.

Wicketkeepers with 350-plus runs and 20-plus dismissals in a Test series

Wicketkeeper	Runs	Dismissals (catches + stumpings)	Country	Opponent	Venue	Year	Matches
Dennis Lindsay	606	24 (24 + 0)	South Africa	Australia	South Africa	1966-67	5
Brad Haddin	493	22 (22 + 0)	Australia	England	Australia	2013-14	5
Alec Stewart	465	23 (23 + 0)	England	South Africa	England	1998	5
Alan Knott	364	23 (22 + 1)	England	Australia	Australia	1974-75	6
Jonny Bairstow	359	20 (19 + 1)	England	South Africa	South Africa	2015-16	4
Rishabh Pant	350	20 (20 + 0)	India	Australia	Australia	2018-19	4

1,258

The number of balls faced by Cheteshwar Pujara in the just-concluded series is now the most faced by an Indian batsman in a Test series against Australia.

Most balls faced in a Test series by an Indian batsman

Batsman	Balls	Balls/innings	Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	100s	Series	Year
Sunil Gavaskar	1,382	154	6	9	500	62.50	1	England in India	1981-82
Rahul Dravid	1,336	223	4	6	602	100.33	3	England in England	2002
Mohinder Amarnath	1,304	130	6	10	584	73.00	3	Pakistan in Pakistan	1982-83
Cheteshwar Pujara	1,258	180	4	7	521	74.42	3	Australia in Australia	2018-19
Sanjay Manjrekar	1,223	175	4	7	569	94.83	2	Pakistan in Pakistan	1989-90
Rahul Dravid	1,203	150	4	8	619	123.80	1	Australia in Australia	2003-04

5

The number of visiting sides that have the distinction of winning a Test series in Australia. India now becomes the first Asian team to do so. England has obviously won the most times – 13 – the first coming way back in March 1885.

Visiting sides winning a Test series in Australia

Series wins	Country	First series win	Last series win	Series played	Series Lost	Series Drawn
13	England	March 1885	January 2011	41	23	5
4	West Indies	January 1980	January 2016	15	10	1
3	South Africa	January 2009	November 2016	11	5	3
1	New Zealand	December 1985	NA	12	8	3
1	India	January 2019	NA	12	8	3

Note: South Africa have won its last three Test series in Australia.

8

The number of Indian captains who have the distinction of winning an away Test series. Virat Kohli, incidentally, became the first Asian to win a Test series in Australia.

Indian captains winning away Test series

Captain	Series wins	Opponent	Year	Result
Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi	1	New Zealand	1968	3-1 (4)
Ajit Wadekar	2	West Indies	1971	1-0 (5)
		England	1971	1-0 (3)
Kapil Dev	1	England	1986	2-0 (3)
Mohammad Azharuddin	1	Sri Lanka	1993	1-0 (3)
Sourav Ganguly	4	Bangladesh	2000	1-0 (1)
		Pakistan	2004*	2-1 (3)
		Bangladesh	2004	2-0 (2)
		Zimbabwe	2005	2-0 (2)
Rahul Dravid	3	West Indies	2006	1-0 (4)
		Bangladesh	2007	1-0 (2)
		England	2007	1-0 (3)
M. S. Dhoni	3	New Zealand	2009**	1-0 (3)
		Bangladesh	2010#	2-0 (2)
		West Indies	2011	1-0 (3)
Virat Kohli	4	Sri Lanka	2015	2-1 (3)
		West Indies	2016	1-0 (3)
		Sri Lanka	2017	3-0 (3)
		Australia	2019	2-1 (4)

* Dravid was the stand-in captain for the first Test that India won and the second that it lost. Ganguly returned for the third Test, which India won.

** Sehwag captained India in the second second Test that was drawn.

# Sehwag captained India in the first Test that India won.

2

The number of times the Indian bowlers have not allowed the opposition batsmen to register a three-figure score in a Test series of four or more matches. The series in Australia was the first time India has been able to do so in a Test series away from home.

Fewest centuries scored by the opposition batsmen against India in a Test series of four or more matches

100s	50s	Opponent	Venue	Year	Highest score	By	Result
	2	South Africa	India	2015-16	85	A. B. De Villiers	India won 3-0 (4)
	8	Australia	Australia	2018-19	79	Marcus Harris	India won 2-1 (4)
1	10	Pakistan	India	1952-53	124*	Nazar Mohammad	India won 2-1 (5)
1	15	Pakistan	India	1979-80	126	Mudassar Nazar	India won 2-0 (6)
1	12	Australia	India	2012-13	130	Michael Clarke	India won 4-0 (4)
1	10	West Indies	West Indies	2016	137	Roston Chase	India won 2-0 (4)

 

Queries Corner Could you please provide details of Cheteshwar Pujara’s triple centuries in all classes of cricket? – Suresh Damani, Ahmedabad. Chesteshwar Pujara has so far hit six triple centuries in his cricketing career, including in junior cricket. 306* Saurashtra under-14 Baroda under-14 Vadodara January 2001 National under-14 tournament 386 Saurashtra under-22 Maharashtra under-22 Rajkot (Racecourse) October 2008 C. K. Nayudu Trophy+ 309 Saurashtra under-22 Mumbai under-22 Rajkot (Racecourse) October 2008 C. K. Nayudu Trophy+ 302* Saurashtra Orissa Rajkot November 2008 Ranji Trophy 352 Saurashtra Karnataka Rajkot (University) January 2013 Ranji Trophy 306* India A West Indies A Hubli October 2013 'A’ Test match + not first-class. Note: His 386 and 309 came in the same week. Bihar’s Ashutosh Aman recently broke the record of Bishan Singh Bedi for the most wickets in a Ranji Trophy season. Whose record did Bedi break when he claimed 64 wickets in 1974-75. Also, who is the first bowler to claim 50 wickets in a Ranji Trophy season? – Ajay Jha, Patna. Bihar’s Ashutosh Aman with 68 wickets is now the leading wicket-taker in a Ranji season. Bishan Singh Bedi in 1974-75 had bettered the record of Tamil Nadu’s S. Venkataraghavan, who during the 1972-73 Ranji season had claimed 58 wickets. Bombay’s Ramakant Desai was the first to claim 50 wickets in a Ranji season during 1958-59. He claimed exactly 50 wickets in what was incidentally his debut season. Sri Lankan Tissara Perera in the second One-Day International match against New Zealand conceded 69 runs without taking a wicket, but managed to score a century. How often has this happened in ODIs? – Ajay Mathur, Ujjain. Tissara Perera during the recent ODI match against New Zealand at the Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui, conceded 69 runs in seven overs without any success, but he did manage to score 140. I could locate one other instance, when England’s Moeen Ali made 102 against the West Indies at Bristol in September 2017, but then conceded 65 runs without a wicket in his 10 overs. Rishabh Pant recorded the second Test 100 of his career at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Among Indian keepers, who has the most centuries in Tests? – Ashish Kote, Pune. That record is currently held by M. S. Dhoni, who has six Test hundreds against his name. Wriddiman Saha has three, while Budhi Kunderan, Farokh Engineer, Syed Kirmani and now Pant have two Test centuries each.

Note: All figures above are updated as on January 12, 2019.