Kohli tops elite list

Going great guns: India's captain Virat Kohli is the quickest to reach the 18,000-run mark in international cricket.

  15

The number of times a batsman has managed to cross the 18,000-run mark in international cricket. Virat Kohli, in the Oval Test, became the latest entrant to this elite list. By achieving this landmark in just 382 innings, he is the quickest to do so — in terms of innings. He played 29 innings less than the previous quickest — Brian Lara.

Fewest innings to reach 18000 international runs

Inns	Mts	Batsman	For	Runs	Ave	100s	50s	Format	Against	Month, year
382	344	Virat Kohli	Ind	18028	55.64	58	85	Test	England	Sept 2018
411	335	Brian Lara	WI	18190	47.74	43	96	Test	England	Apr 2004
412	367	Sachin Tendulkar	Ind	18003	48.39	57	82	Test	England	Dec 2001
422	358	Ricky Ponting	Aus	18062	49.08	51	86	Test	Bangladesh	Apr 2006
434	375	AB de Villiers	SAf	18033	48.08	45	95	T20I	Afghanistan	Mar 2016
435	372	Jacques Kallis	SAf	18030	50.36	42	108	Test	Pakistan	Oct 2007
436	388	Rahul Dravid	Ind	18037	47.34	34	113	ODI	West Indies	May 2006
454	411	Kumar Sangakkara	SL	18083	44.32	35	101	ODI	New Zealand	Mar 2011

 

5

The number of occasions in Test cricket when a batsman has managed to register a century on his Test debut and also in his final Test match. Alastair Cook, in the recent Oval Test, became the latest entrant to this list.

Batsmen registering centuries in their debut and final Test matches

Batsman	For	1	2	Opp	Venue	Month, Year	Result	Batsman’s Test number
Reggie Duff	Aus	32	104	Eng	Melbourne	January 1902	Won	Debut Test
		146		Eng	The Oval	August 1905	Drawn	22 Test match
Bill Ponsford	Aus	110	27	Eng	Sydney	December 1924	Won	Debut Test
		266	22	Eng	The Oval	August 1934	Won	29 Test match
Greg Chappell	Aus	108		Eng	Perth	December 1970	Drawn	Debut Test
		182		Pak	Sydney	January 1984	Won	87 Test match
Mohd Azharuddin	Ind	110		Eng	Kolkata	January 1985	Drawn	Debut Test
		9	102	SAf	Bangalore	March 2000	Lost	99 Test match
Alastair Cook	Eng	60	104*	Ind	Nagpur	March 2006	Drawn	Debut Test
		71	147	Ind	The Oval	September 2018	Won	161 Test match

 

Notes:

** Chappell and Azharuddin are the only players to register centuries in their first and last Test innings.

** Ponsford is the only player in the above list to do so in winning causes in both his debut and final Test matches.

** Cook is the only player in the above list to register four scores of fifty-plus in his first and final Test matches, which included a century. Another batsman who had achieved this in Test cricket history was South African Bruce Mitchell on his Test debut against England at Birmingham in June 1929 when he made 88 and 61 not out, and then, 20 years later, in March 1949, he finished his Test career at Port Elizabeth also against England with scores of 99 and 56.

** West Indian Andy Ganteaume (112), in February 1948, made a century in his only Test innings and match against England at Port of Spain.

** New Zealander Rodney Redmond, against Pakistan, at Auckland in February 1973, in his only Test match, made 107 and 56. 

14

The number catches taken by K. L. Rahul in the series is the joint second-most claimed by any fielder in a series in Test cricket history. For the record, Rahul had earlier become the first fielder to claim 13 or more catches in any Test series on English soil.

Most catches in a Test series by a fieldsman                  Test catches in series

Cts	Tests	Inns	Fielder	For	Opp	In	Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	Series Result
15	5	10	Jack Gregory +	Aus	Eng	Aus	1920/21	3	1	2	3	6	-	WON
14	6	11	Greg Chappell	Aus	Eng	Aus	1974/75	1	7	2	3	1		WON
14	5	9	KL Rahul	Ind	Eng	Eng	2018	2		7	2	3	-	Lost
13	5	9	Bob Simpson +	Aus	SAf	SAf	1957/58	3	3	1	3	3	-	WON
13	5	10	Bob Simpson	Aus	WI	Aus	1960/61	1	4	5	2	1	-	WON
13	6	11	Brian Lara	WI	Eng	WI	1997/98		4		4	3	2	WON
13	4	8	Rahul Dravid	Ind	Aus	Ind	2004/05	4	4	2	3	-	-	Lost
13	4	7	Brian Lara	WI	Ind	WI	2006	3	1	4	5	-	-	Lost
13	5	10	Alastair Cook #	Eng	Ind	Eng	2018	1	1	4	5	2	-	WON
		+ debut series # final series

 

Queries Corner Hanuma Vihari, in his debut Test at The Oval, scored a fifty and also claimed three wickets in the second innings. Has any other Indian achieved this all-round feat on debut?  — K Sampath, Hyderabad. Hanuma Vihari, with his 56 and 3/37 at the Oval, became the second Indian after Dattu Phadkar, who also achieved a similar feat of 51 runs and 3/14 on his Test debut in Sydney in December 1947. On how many occasions have teams successfully chased targets between 200 and 300 in Test cricket?  — Sameer Naik, Vancouver, Canada. Please refer to my last column on the subject.  For the record, targets of 200 or more have been set on 987 occasions in Test cricket, the summary of which is given below for the Tests won, lost, tied and drawn.   Indian wicketkeepers in the recent series have conceded over 100 byes. Is this the most ever conceded by Indian wicketkeepers in a Test series? — Alok Jain, Mumbai. In the recent five-match Test series, Indian wicketkeepers Dinesh Karthik (30 byes in two Tests) and Risabh Pant (76 byes in the last three Tests) had, in all, conceded 106 byes. This is the first time an Indian bowling side had conceding over 100 byes in a Test series. The previous, dubious record came during the historic Test series in the West Indies in 1971, when debutant wicketkeeper P. Krishnamurthy had conceded 84 byes. Hanuma Vihari’s first two Test victims — Joe Root and Alastair Cook — had made 100+ scores. How often has this happened in Test cricket?  — V. George, Kottayam. There are quite a few such instances in Test cricket history. Bangladesh’s Aftab Ahmed has the unique distinction of claiming his first three Test victims, who all had made 100+ scores. Interestingly, his fourth victim was dismissed for 94. The only other Indian, apart from Vihari to achieve this was Karn Sharma, whose first two Test victims had made centuries. In Sharma’s case, his fourth victim had also made a century.  Note:  All figures above are updated as on September 14 2018.