Eng v Ind, 3rd Test Number Cruncher: Unlucky Pankaj's dubious record and Anderson's heroics

- This Test was the first to start on a Sunday in England. The break-up of starting days of Test matches: Friday-669, Thursday-660, Saturday-340, Wednesday-200, Monday-100, Tuesday-95 and Sunday-68. - Pankaj Singh became 282nd player to represent India in Test matches. He is the first Rajasthan player to play for India since Parthasarathy Sharma who played five Tests between 1974 and 1977. - Jos Butler became 665th player to represent England in Test matches. He also became 66th player to don wicketkeeping gloves for England. [caption id=“attachment_1645373” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Pankaj Singh now holds the dubious distinction of an Indian debutant conceding most runs in an innings without taking a wicket. Reuters[/caption] - MS Dhoni was leading India for the seventh time in a Test in England- most by an India. He went ahead of Ajit Wadekar and Mohammad Azharuddin’s tally of six Tests. - Alastair Cook was also leading England for the seventh time against India, equalling Nasser Hussain’s record. - Only four players have made their Test debut for India with more first-class wickets under their belt than Pankaj Singh’s 300. They are: Dilip Doshi (494), Amir Elahi (449), Shute Banerjee (305) and Amit Mishra (303). - When he reached 26 in first innings, Alastair Cook completed 1500 runs against India. He became third Englishman to reach this mark after Graham Gooch (1725) and Kevin Pietersen (1581). - On reaching 51 in first innings, Cook became ninth player to complete 2000 runs as England captain, joining the ranks with Mike Atherton (3815), Graham Gooch (3582), Andrew Strauss (3343), Michael Vaughan (3170), Peter May (3080), Nasser Hussain (2487), Ted Dexter (2427) and David Gower (2267). - Cook has now aggregated 8327 runs for England, which puts him at the third place among England’s leading run-scorers. He surpassed Kevin Pietersen (8181) and David Gower (8231). Now only Graham Gooch (8900) and Alec Stewart (8463) are ahead of Cook. - Cook’s catch in the first innings gave MS Dhoni his 400th dismissals in first-class cricket. Dhoni is far away from the Indian record of most first-class dismissals as a keeper though. Farokh Engineer had a tally of 817 wicketkeeping dismissals. - Gary Ballance (156) scored his second hundred of the series and third of his career. He is only the fifth England batsman to score three hundreds in first 6 Tests, after Jack Russell, Les Ames, Len Hutton and Ravi Bopara. This was also his highest score in Test cricket, beating the 110 he made against India at Lord’s. - Ian Bell (167) made his third score in excess of 150 against India. He now shares the English record of most 150+ scores against India with Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook. - Ian Bell, on 99, completed his 7,000 Test runs. He became 11th Englishman to do so. - Jos Buttler’s strike-rate of 102.40 (85 off 83 balls) is the second highest for a debutant in an innings of 80 or more. Only Shikhar Dhawan managed a higher strike-rate: 107.47 (187 off 174 balls) vs Australia at Mohali in 2012-13. - Buttler’s innings is the highest by a wicketkeeper on Test debut against India, beating West Indies’ Desmond Lewis’ 81* at Georgetown in 1970-71. - Ravindra Jadeja conceded 21 runs in one over to hold the dubious record of an Indian conceding most runs in one over against England. Pankaj Singh joined him later! - Pankaj Singh conceded 146 runs in 36 overs without taking a wicket. He now holds the dubious distinction of an Indian debutant conceding most runs in an innings without taking a wicket. Bapu Nadkarni held the previous record with 132 runs against New Zealand at Delhi in 1955-56. - In all Test history only one bowler- Australia’s Bryce McGain- has conceded more runs in an innings on Test debut without taking a wicket. McGain conceded 149 against South Africa at Cape Town in 2008-09. - MS Dhoni’s six off Moeen Ali in first innings gave him a world record. He has now hit more sixes than any other captain in Test cricket. Dhoni went past West Indian Brian Lara’s tally of 49 sixes. The accompanying table lists captains hitting most sixes in Test cricket: - MS Dhoni (50) on 22, became India’s leading run-scoring wicketkeeper in England, surpassing FarokhEngineer’s tally of 563 runs. - Dhoni’s 10 fifties against England are the most by a batsman against a particular side without reaching three-figure mark. Dhoni equalled South Africa’s Dave Nourse’s record (also against England!). Others with most fifties against an opponent without ever scoring a hundred: South Africa’s Jock Cameron (9 vs England), New Zealand’s Bevan Congdon (9 vs India) and Brendon McCullum (9 vs England). - Bhuvneshwar Kumar failed with the bat in both the innings. He, however, now holds the Test record of facing most balls (481) in a series by a number 9 batsman. Pakistan’s Saqlain Mushtaq had faced 447 balls against Zimbabwe in 1996-97 while scoring 94 runs.Bhuvneshwar has scored 228. - James Anderson (5/53) completed a five-wicket haul on his birthday. Interestingly he had also taken a five-wicket haul on his 28th birthday – against Pakistan at Trent Bridge in 2010. - Incidentally Anderson has been involved in seven Tests featuring his birthday. Only Australia’s David Boon (9) has played more “birthday” Tests. - When Alastair Cook did not enforce the follow-on on India, he provided the 13th instance of an opposing captain not enforcing the follow-on on India (despite being entitled to do so). India managed to earn a draw only once and lost 12. India lost all five against England in such circumstances. - Pankaj Singh went for 179 runs in 47 overs without taking a wicket in the match. He now holds the dubious distinction of conceding most runs by a wicketless bowler on debut. Pakistan’s Sohail Khan had conceded 164 against Sri Lanka at Karachi in 2008-09. - England’s run-rate of 5.04 in the second innings is their highest against India in an innings of 200 or more. At Lord’s in 1990 England had scored their runs at a rate of 5.00 (272 for 4 declared in 54.2 overs). - Murali Vijay was run-out for the first time in his Test career. In fact this was the first time he got involved in a run-out. - James Anderson -by dismissing Rohit Sharma- completed his 50 wickets against India at home. He became fourth bowler to complete half-century of wickets against India at home after Imran Khan (67), Muttiah Muralitharan (65) and Fred Trueman (53). - James Anderson dismissed MS Dhoni for the second time in the Test. He has now dismissed Dhoni six times in Test cricket – more than any other bowler. - Dhoni’s dismissal was the 100th time Anderson dismissed a batsman caught behind. He became fourth bowler in Test cricket to do so after Glenn McGrath (152), Courtney Walsh (111) and Allan Donald (100). - Moeen Ali’s figures of six for 67 are the second best by an England spinner against India in England, after Ray Illingworth’s 6 for 29 at Lord’s in 1967. The following table lists best performances by England spinners against India at home: - Incidentally Moeen is the first English spinner to take five wickets in fourth innings of a Test against India in England. - Moeen’s match figures of 8 for 129 are the third best by an England spinner against India at home after Graeme Swann’s 9 for 208 at The Oval in 2011 and Norman Gifford’s 8 for 127 at Lord’s in 1971. - Moeen’s 15 wickets in the series are the most by an England spinner in a home series against England since 1967 when Ray Illingworth took 20 wickets in three matches. - Interestingly Moeen has now dismissed 11 out of 13 Indian players who have batted in the series. MS Dhoni and Ishant Sharma are the only ones he has not dismissed. - Jos Buttler’s three catches in second innings took his match tally to six. Having scored 85 in only innings he batted in, Buttler became only the third wicketkeeper to score 80+ runs and effect 5 dismissals in debut Test. Other to do so are Sri Lanka’s Chamara Dunusinghe (91 runs and 7 dismissals vs New Zealand at Napier in 1994-95) and Australia’s Adam Gilchrist (81 runs and 6 dismissals vs Pakistan at Brisbane in 1999-00). - Ajinkya Rahane (54 and 52) top scored for India in both innings. He became eighth Indian to accomplish this feat against England in England joining Vinoo Mankad, Pankaj Roy, Tiger Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar,Dilip Vengsarkar, Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni. - Since 2001 India have suffered a defeat in the very next Test after winning one on 8 occasions in an away series. - The win was England’s first in 11 Tests since Chester-le-Street Test against Australia in 2013. - MS Dhoni has now lost 11 Tests outside the subcontinent – most by an Indian captain. He was earlier at level with Tiger Pataudi and Mohammad Azharuddin with 10 defeats.