The Responses

Mohandas Menon:
Since 1946 scores of 100 runs or less have been achieved by teams on 97 occasions. The following countries have been dismissed on score of 100 or less on most occasions:
India 21 times
New Zealand 20
West Indies 13 (5 times in the last three years)
England 13
Australia 10
Pakistan 7
South Africa 5
Sri Lanka 5
Zimbabwe 2 and
Bangladesh 1

Mohandas Menon:In first-class cricket the feat of taking all ten wicket in an innings have been achieved on 78 occasions. The first bowler to do so was E Hinkly for Kent against an England XI at Lord's way back in 1848. The 78 occasions includes the two achieved in Test cricket - by England off-spinner Jim Laker (10-53) against Australia at Manchester in 1956 and the 10-74 by Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble against Pakistan in 1998-99.

Mohandas Menon:Yes! This has happened once when England's Bob Willis (who did not bat or take any catch but took just one wicket) against Sri Lanka at Leeds on 20-6-1983 (in the 1983 World Cup match) was awarded the man of the match for his captaincy and not for his performance on the field.

Mohandas Menon:
Captains with most wins in Tests

Captains for	P	Won	Win%	Captain
for Australia	93	32	34.41	Allan Border
for England	41	20	48.78	Peter May
for South Africa	53	27	50.94	Hansie Cronje
for West Indies	: 74	36	48.65	Clive Lloyd
for India	47	14	29.79	M Azharuddin
for Pakistan	48	14	29.17	Imran Khan
for Pakistan	34	14	41.18	Javed Miandad
for New Zealand	33	12	36.36	Stephen Fleming
Sri Lanka	56	12	21.43	Arjuna Ranatunga
Zimbabwe	19	2	10.53	Alistair Campbell
Bangladesh	0	0	0	-

Mohandas Menon: The term Boxing Day has nothing to do with cricket. In fact the day after Christmas (i.e. 26th December) is known as THE BOXING DAY - after the tradition of opening the "alms boxes" placed in churches over the Christmas season. The contents are then distributed amongst the poor.

Mohandas Menon: Yes! the Indian batsmen have a better record, but Pakistani bowlers have a far superior record than their Indian counterparts. Since bowlers win matches Pakistan's performance in India have been much better.
India in 20 Test matches in Pakistan have lost five and have failed to win even a single Test match, while on the other hand Pakistan in 27 Tests in India have won four although they have lost five!
Just for the record, I am providing the individual performances of players of both teams in Pakistan and India respectively.

India in Pakistan

Batting:
Sunil Gavaskar 1001 runs (avg 58.88) with three hundreds and five fifties;
Mohinder Amarnath 856 runs (avg. 57.07) with four hundreds and four fifties;
Sanjay Manjrekar 569 runs (avg. 94.83) with two hundreds and three fifties,
Kapil Dev 548 runs (avg. 26.10) with three fifties,
Ravi Shastri 526 runs (avg. 43.83) with two hundreds and two fifties
Summary: Indian batsmen have aggregated 8730 runs (avg 31.52) with 15 hundreds and 53 fifties in Pakistan
Bowling:
Kapil Dev 44 wickets (avg 40.02);
Subash Gupte 21 wickets (avg. 22.67)
Summary: In all 203 wickets (avg 48.97) have been captured by Indian bowlers in Pakistan at a s/r 104.04 and at an economy rate of 2.82 runs per over.

Pakistan in India

Batting: Javed Miandad 948 runs (avg 49.89) with 11 fifties;
Hanif Mohammad 697 runs (avg 43.56) with 1 hundred and 6 fifties;
Wasim Raja 630 runs (avg. 57.27) with 1 hundred and 5 fifties.
Summary: Pakistani batsmen have aggregated 11087 runs (avg 28.00) with 14 hundreds and 59 fifties in India
Bowling:
Fazal Mahmood 29 wickets (avg 25.90), Iqbal Qasim 29 wickets (33.86), Imran Khan 27 wickets (avg. 28.04) Wasim Akram 27 wickets (avg 27.70) Summary: In all 338 wickets (avg 33.20) have been captured by Pakistani bowlers in India at a s/r 78.61 and at economy rate of 2.53 runs per over.

Mohandas Menon:
In terms of minutes: Australian Jack Gregory during his innings of 119 against South Africa at Johannesburg in 1921-22 reached his hundred in just 70 minutes.
In terms of balls faced (where recorded): West Indian Viv Richards during his unbeaten innings of 110 against England at St John's in 1985-86 reached his hundred in 56 balls.

Mohandas Menon:
The highest scores in ODIs achieved by batsmen scoring over 140 runs and not receiving the match of the match award are as follows:
153 - Rahul Dravid - India v New Zealand at Hyderabad on 8-11-1999 (The award went to Tendulkar who had made 186 not out)
146 - Sachin Tendulkar - India v Zimbabwe at Jodhpur on 8-12-2000 (The award went to Grant Fowler who had scored 70 and claimed 3-43. Moreover India lost the match).
145 - Rahul Dravid - India v Sri Lanka at Taunton on 26-5-1999 (The award went to Ganguly who had made 183)
140 - Saeed Anwar - Pakistan v India at Dhaka on 18-1-1998 (The award went to Ganguly who had made 124 as India won the match chasing 315 runs.)
Note:When Sanath Jayasurya scored 140 against New Zealand at Bloemfontein on 8-12-1994 - no award was announced since the match had to abandoned as a no-result due to rains.

Mail Cricket Editor