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Rajneesh Gupta's fascinating figures from the Kolkata Test.
India registered a resounding 178 run win over New Zealand at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, taking an unbeatable 2-0 lead against the visitors in the three-Test series.
The win enabled India to ascend the No 1 spot in the ICC Test rankings, dislodging Pakistan.
Important takeaways from the win:
The Test was India's 250th Test at home.
A chronology of India's milestone Tests.
India's milestone Tests at home
| Test # | Opponent | Venue | Year | Captain | Result (for India) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | England | Bombay Gymkhana | 1933 | C K Nayudu | Lost by 9 wickets |
| 50th | England | Delhi | 1964 | Mansur Ali Khan 'Tiger' Pataudi | Drawn |
| 100th | Pakistan | Bangalore | 1979 | Sunil Gavaskar | Drawn |
| 150th | Zimbabwe | Delhi | 1993 | Mohammed Azharuddin | Won by an innings and 13 runs |
| 200th | Pakistan | Kolkata | 2005 | Sourav Ganguly | Won by 195 runs |
| 250th | New Zealand | Kolkata | 2016 | Virat Kohli | Won by 178 runs |
For a change, India's win was not dominated by the spinners as Mohammad Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took 12 wickets.
There has been only one Test win at home in which Indian pacers got more wickets than the spinners. The details:
Most wickets taken by Indian pacers in a win at home
| Wkts | Runs | Avg | Vs | Venue | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 376 | 25.06 | Pakistan | Chennai | 1979-1980 |
| 12 | 155 | 12.91 | England | Mumbai | 1981-1982 |
| 12 | 192 | 16.00 | New Zealand | Kolkata | 2016-2017 |
| 11 | 171 | 15.54 | West Indies | Kolkata | 2013-2014 |
| 11 | 177 | 16.09 | West Indies | Chennai | 1978-1979 |
| 11 | 242 | 22.00 | Australia | Mohali | 2010-2011 |
| 11 | 304 | 27.63 | Zimbabwe | Delhi | 2000-2001 |
This India-New Zealand series has seen an unusually large number of LBW dismissals.
As many as 11 LBW decisions were given in the Kanpur Test. 15 more such dismissals (a new record in India) at the Eden Gardens took the series tally to 26 -- the highest ever in a three-match series in India.
The previous record was 24 in the India-South Africa series in 1996-1997.
Most number of LBW dismissals in a series in India.
| LBWs | Dismissals | % | Series |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | 75 | 34.66 | India v New Zealand, 2016-2017* |
| 24 | 110 | 21.81 | India v South Africa, 1996-1097 |
| 23 | 80 | 28.75 | India v Pakistan, 1998-1999** |
| 20 | 100 | 20.00 | India v New Zealand, 1988-1989 |
| 20 | 89 | 22.47 | India v Sri Lanka, 2005-2006 |
| 20 | 87 | 22.98 | India v New Zealand, 2010-2011 |
| 20 | 101 | 19.80 | India v West Indies, 2011-2012 |
* series still not ended
** two-match series
Most LBW dismissals in a Test in India
| LBWs | Dismissals | % | Teams | Venue | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 40 | 37.50 | India v New Zealand | Kolkata | 2016-2017 |
| 13 | 40 | 32.50 | India v South Africa | Ahmedabad | 1996-1997 |
| 12 | 40 | 30.00 | India v Pakistan | Chennai | 1998-1999 |
Wriddhiman Saha played a crucial part in India's success by being the highest scoring batsman in the match from the either side.
Saha's twin-fifties in the match made him only the fourth Indian Indian wicket-keeper to score fifties in both innings of a Test, joining Dilawar Hussain, Farokh Engineer and M S Dhoni. Dhoni has done so four times.
Indian wicket-keepers scoring fifties in both innings of a Test
| 'Keeper | Inns1 | Inns2 | Opposition | Venue | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dilawar Hussain | 59 | 57 | England | Kolkata | 1933-1934 |
| Farokh Engineer | 121 | 66 | England | Bombay (Brabourne Stadium) | 1972-1973 |
| M S Dhoni | 92 | 68* | Australia | Mohali | 2008-2009 |
| M S Dhoni | 56 | 55 | Australia | Nagpur | 2008-2009 |
| M S Dhoni | 52 | 56* | New Zealand | Wellington | 2008-2009 |
| M S Dhoni | 77 | 74* | England | Birmingham | 2011 |
| Wriddhiman Saha | 54* | 58* | New Zealand | Kolkata | 2016-2017 |
Ravichandran Ashwin completed the all round double of 1,500 runs and 200 wickets in Test cricket.
In doing so in 38 Tests, Ashwin became the quickest to reach this mark.
Ashwin needed two Tests fewer than Ian Botham, who held the record previously.
Fastest to allround double of 1,500 runs and 200 wickets
| Test | Player | Bat Avg | Bowling Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 38th | Ravichandran Ashwin | 33.55 | 25.14 |
| 41st | Ian Botham | 32.41 | 21.21 |
| 44th | Richard Hadlee | 24.26 | 25.83 |
| 45th | Imran Khan | 28.07 | 23.81 |
| 49th | Richie Benaud | 24.48 | 24.73 |
| 49th | Shaun Pollock | 27.15 | 20.26 |
| 50th | Kapil Dev | 32.26 | 29.33 |
The figures are at the end of the Test in which the milestone was achieved.
Ashwin has now taken 139 wickets in 20 home Tests, which takes him ahead of Bishen Singh Bedi's tally of 137 wickets at home.
Now only four bowlers -- Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Kapil Dev and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar -- have taken more wickets than Ashwin at home.
Indian bowlers with most wickets at home
| Matches | Wickets | Average | 5I | 10M | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anil Kumble | 63 | 350 | 24.88 | 25 | 7 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 55 | 265 | 28.76 | 18 | 4 |
| Kapil Dev | 65 | 219 | 26.49 | 11 | 2 |
| Bhagwat Chandrasekhar | 32 | 142 | 27.69 | 8 | 1 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 21 | 140 | 21.26 | 14 | 4 |
| Bishen Singh Bedi | 30 | 137 | 23.99 | 8 | 0 |
| Javagal Srinath | 32 | 108 | 26.61 | 5 | 1 |
| Zaheer Khan | 38 | 104 | 35.87 | 3 | 0 |
| Vinoo Mankad | 23 | 103 | 26.53 | 4 | 2 |
| Pragyan Ojha | 20 | 101 | 27.51 | 7 | 1 |
With hardly anyone noticing it, Virat Kohli has gone ahead of Rahul Dravid and equalled Tiger Pataudi and Sunil Gavaskar’s tally of wins as captain. Now only MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly and Mohammad Azharuddin have won more Tests than Virat for India.
Virat is yet to lose a Test at home.... in fact he is yet to lose a toss at home!!!
Virat’s record as Test captain
| Mts | Won | Lost | Drawn | Win% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| at home | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 83.33 |
| away | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 40.00 |
| overall | 16 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 56.25 |
India's most successful captains (in terms of wins)
| Matches | Won | Lost | Drawn | Win% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M S Dhoni | 60 | 27 | 18 | 15 | 45.00 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 49 | 21 | 13 | 15 | 42.86 |
| Mohammad Azharuddin | 47 | 14 | 14 | 19 | 29.79 |
| Virat Kohli | 16 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 56.25 |
| Mansur Ali Khan 'Tiger' Pataudi | 40 | 9 | 19 | 12 | 22.50 |
| Sunil Gavaskar | 47 | 9 | 8 | 30 | 19.15 |
| Rahul Dravid | 25 | 8 | 6 | 11 | 32.00 |
Virat Kohli has not suffered a single defeat in his last 12 Tests as captain.
Among all the Indian captains only three have a longer undefeated streak. Take a look:
Longest unbeaten streaks for Indian captains
| Tests | Results | Captain | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | 6 wins, 12 draws | Sunil Gavaskar | January 24, 1976 | January 20, 1980 |
| 17 | 4 wins, 13 draws | Kapil Dev | September 14, 1985 | March 9, 1987 |
| 14 | 9 wins, 5 draws | Mohammad Azharuddin | January 2 1993 | December 5, 1994 |
| 12* | 9 wins, 3 draws | Virat Kohli | August 20, 2015 | |
| 10 | 1 win, 9 draws | Sachin Tendulkar | April 4, 1997 | November 2, 1999 |
Gavaskar's winning streak came at the start of his captaincy stint.
Kapil's streak came towards the end of his captaincy career, which ended with a defeat in his last Test as captain.
India are now undefeated in 13 consecutive home Tests (since losing to England at Kolkata in December 2012).
There have been only two longer undefeated home streaks for India in all Tests. The details:
India's longest undefeated streaks at home
| Tests | Won | Drawn | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 6 | 14 | 1977-1980 |
| 16 | 2 | 14 | 1960-1964 |
| 13* | 11 | 2 | 2012 till date |
| 12 | 7 | 5 | 2001-2003 |
| 12 | 9 | 3 | 2010-2012 |
The win was India's...