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This article was first published 13 years ago

The cricket expert plays your deliveries

Last updated on: July 19, 2011 11:16 IST

Image: Virender Sehwag celebrates after scoring a double century against Pakistan

Have a question relating to cricket and did not know who to ask? Now you can bounce your statistical queries off Rediff's resident expert. 

Each week, Rajneesh Gupta will pick ten cricket-related questions readers send him and provide answers.

Your queries should be addressed to: Ask Rajneesh on Facebook

Rajneesh's answers some questions he received from readers last week:

Virender Sehwag scored at least one double century against Pakistan in three consecutive series [irrespective of home or abroad]: 2004 in Pakistan, 2005 in India, 2006 in Pakistan. Is he the first one to do so, or he share this record with someone else, that is, scoring at least one double century in three consecutive series against a particular country irrespective of home or abroad? -S.Srinivasan, Chennai.

My initial feeling was that Don Bradman must have done this against England. Bradman hit eight double centuries against England and three of them came in one series --  254 at Lord's, 334 at Leeds and 232 at the Oval in 1930.

He could not score any double century in the 1932-33 series, but scored two in 1934 and two again in 1936-37. There was none in 1938, but he scored one in 1946-47.

Sri Lanka's Marwan Atapattu came very close. He made 223 in his very first innings against Zimbabwe at Kandy in 1997-98. Then, when Sri Lanka visited Zimbabwe in 1999-00, Atapattu once again scored a double century in the very first innings of the series - an unbeaten 216 at Harare. Atapattu, however, missed out in the 2001-02 series at home, where his highest in three innings was only 50.

When Sri Lanka visited Zimbabwe in 2003-04, Atapattu made scores of 170, 249 in two innings. So, in all, Atapattu scored three double centuries in four series against Zimbabwe.

England's Wally Hammond (4 v Australia), India's Sunil Gavaskar (3 v West Indies) and West Indies' Brian Lara (3 v Australia) are the other batsmen to score three double-centuries against a particular country, but none of them could score even two in consecutive series.

So, it turns out that Sehwag is, in fact, the only batsman in Test cricket to score a double century in three consecutive series against a particular opponent.

Kumble is India's best bowler in second innings

Image: Anil Kumble

Who is the best Indian bowler in the second innings? Vijay Lokapally, New Delhi

I assume the query is about the performances of Indian bowlers in the opposition's second innings in Tests. Here is the answer to your query on three different parameters.

Leading Indian bowlers by wicket-aggregates
Anil Kumble............280 wickets @ 26.60
Harbhajan Singh...180 wickets @ 25.12
Kapil Dev................135 wickets @ 26.20
Bishan Bedi.............99 wickets @ 21.31
Zaheer Khan...........96 wickets @ 31.43

Leading Indian bowlers by average
(Min.50 wickets)
Bishan Bedi..............99 wickets @ 21.31
Vinoo Mankad..........56 wickets @ 22.57
Erapalli Prasanna....82 wickets @ 22.81
Harbhajan Singh...180 wickets @ 25.12
Kapil Dev................135 wickets @ 26.20

Leading Indian bowlers by strike-rate
(Min.50 wickets)
Zaheer Khan...........96 wickets @ 55.44
Harbhajan Singh...180 wickets @ 57.76
Anil Kumble............280 wickets @ 58.04
Kapil Dev................135 wickets @ 58.79
Erapalli Prasanna....82 wickets @ 61.63

Batsmen can be stumped off a wide ball

Image: Harbhajan Singh being stumped by Kamran Akmal

In a one-day match, Team A scores 200/10 in 50 overs and Team B reaches to 200/9 after 49.5 overs. Now the last batsman is out off the last delivery (stumped) and eventually it is a no-ball. Now what is the result of the match? -Arup Biswas, Kolkata

Law 24 and 39 stipulate that a batsman cannot be out stumped off a no-ball. So, in your scenario, Team B has gained a penalty run for the No-Ball and, at that point, it has won the match by one wicket.

Just to add to your query, a batsman can be out stumped off a Wide. So, what would have been the result had the batsman been stumped off a Wide in the example given by you.

Indians like scoring boundaries and sixes

Image: MS Dhoni

Indians like to score more in 4s and 6s ...since 1990 (or 2000); what percentage of runs have been scored in boundaries by the major countries in Tests and ODIs? Does India lead the two lists? - Ravi S.Khot

Good spot, Ravi! Indians really like scoring 4s and 6s. In Tests, India is third, behind Pakistan and Bangladesh, while they top the ODI list.

The accompanying tables give details of percentage of runs scored in boundaries by various teams since 2000 in two formats of the game.

Test cricket:

Mts

Batsmen Runs

4s

6s

Boundary Runs

Boundary %

Pakistan

97

48592

6180

374

26964

55.49

Bangladesh

68

26370

3388

160

14512

55.03

India

121

64149

8177

382

35000

54.56

West Indies

119

54913

6881

395

29894

54.44

New Zealand

88

40922

5027

346

22184

54.21

Zimbabwe

44

19180

2336

125

10094

52.63

South Africa

120

62071

7593

361

32538

52.42

England

147

73676

9053

395

38582

52.37

Australia

128

72335

8635

553

37858

52.34

Sri Lanka

105

53042

6535

248

27628

52.09

ODIs:

Mts

Batsmen Runs

4s

6s

Boundary Runs

Boundary %

India

353

75874

7462

1014

35932

47.36

New Zealand

274

52668

4643

906

24008

45.58

West Indies

269

52157

4621

872

23716

45.47

South Africa

282

60618

5560

771

26866

44.32

Australia

325

72927

6597

977

32250

44.22

Pakistan

306

65039

5821

910

28744

44.20

England

260

52512

4843

583

22870

43.55

Bangladesh

210

36570

3411

371

15870

43.40

Sri Lanka

316

63966

6003

543

27270

42.63

Zimbabwe

255

47318

3989

494

18920

39.98

McGrath holds the Test record of inflicting most ducks

Image: Glen McGrath and Shane Warne

If a batsman is run-out taking a third run, does he get credit for the first two runs? For example, at 99 he gets run-out taking the third run. Does he get his century? - Leyland defigueiredo

A batsman gets credit for all the runs he has completed before he got run-out. So, if a batsman batting on 99 plays a shot, sets off for the runs and is eventually run-out while taking the third run, his final score will be 101.

I have seen a numerical number on the T-shirt worn by Indian players in Test cricket. For example, Raina's shirt bears number 265. Can you brief me what does this signify? - Tarique Parvez

This number shows a player's position in chronological order among all players who have played Test cricket for India. So, 265 on Suresh Raina's shirt means he is the 265th player to represent India in Test cricket.

Five more players -- Chateshwar Pujara, Jaidev Unadkat, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar and Abhinav Mukund -- have since made their Test debut for India. So, any new player making his Test debut for India will wear a shirt with the number 271 on it.

Which bowler has got most batsmen out on zero in Tests and in ODIs, and which bowler has dismissed most batsmen who scored 100 or more? - Dillip Satapathy

Australia's Glenn McGrath holds the Test record of inflicting most ducks on batsmen - 104 of his victims could not open their account. Fellow-teammate Shane Warne and Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan are joint second with 102 duck-dismissals. Pakistan's Wasim Akram (79), West Indies' Courtney Walsh (79),India's Anil Kumble (77), Pakistan's Waqar Younis (76) and West Indies' Curtly Ambrose (76) come next.

In ODIs there is a five-way tie among India's Javagal Srinath, Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan, Pakistan's Saqlain Mushtaq, Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas and Bangladesh's Mashrafe Mortaza with 8 dismissals.

Batsman can be run-out in following ways

Image: Shivnarain Chanderpaul is run out

The batsman hits the ball and goes for a run. The other end batsman is trying to reach the batting end.

Scenario I: The keeper knocks the bails off before collecting the ball. Now how does the batsman get run-out?

Scenario II: The keeper falls on the three stumps and knocks them down before collecting the ball. Now how does the batsman get run-out? - Madhu Sudhan Reddy

Following are the ways in which a batsman can be run-out in conditions described by you.

Scenario I: The wicketkeeper may pull a stump out of the ground provided that the ball is in the hand or hands used. The wicketkeeper may knock a stump out of the ground with his arm provided that the ball is in the hand of the arm used.

The wicketkeeper may throw the ball with sufficient force to strike a stump completely out of the ground. When struck out of the ground the stump must be completely removed from the ground.

The wicketkeeper may replace one or both bails and then remove one of them in the aforementioned manner.

Scenario II:The wicketkeeper will have to replace a stump in one of the holes where the wicket originally stood and then pull / knock / strike it out of the ground as mentioned in scenario

Jack Crawford was the first cricketer to wear spectacles

Image: Clive Lloyd

Who was the first cricketer to play Tests wearing spectacles? - P.B. Mohan

It is not easy to gather details of this nature. A thorough look into my notes revealed names of nearly 50 players who played Test cricket wearing spectacles, which include some famous names like Clive Lloyd, Zaheer Abbas, Anil Kumble, Narendra Hirwani, Devon Malcolm, Daniel Vettori etc. I may have missed a few.

It seems Jack Crawford -- who played 12 Tests for England between 1906 and 1908 - was the first cricketer to play in a Test match wearing spectacles.

Damien Fleming has been dismissed LBW most often

Image: Damien Fleming

For all Test players who have played 20 more Tests, who has the maximum LBW dismissals in percentage terms? -Srikantan Rajamani

Australia's Damien Fleming has been dismissed LBW most often under the criteria set by you, followed by West Indies' Colin Croft and Sri Lanka's Rangana Herath.

Here-under is the list of top-10 players with highest percentage of LBW dismissals:

For

Mts

Complete inns

LBW

LBW%

DW Fleming

Aus

20

16

7

43.75

CEH Croft

WI

27

15

6

40.00

HMRKB Herath

SL

27

28

11

39.29

JR Murray

WI

33

41

16

39.02

G Duckworth

Eng

24

16

6

37.50

Maninder Singh

Ind

35

26

9

34.62

SR Watson

Aus

27

47

16

34.04

RMH Binny

Ind

27

36

12

33.33

Misbah-ul-Haq

Pak

25

37

12

32.43

CD Collymore

WI

30

25

8

32.00

Note: Australia's Joe Darling (34), Max Walker (34),Bill Ponsford (29), Neil Hawke (27), Bill O'Reilly (27) and Pakistan's Shahid Afridi (27) have played maximum Tests without being dismissed LBW even once.