Bhuvneshwar and Shami continued their impressive run at Eden Gardens as India’s fast bowlers stole the spotlight from their spin twins
Bharath Seervi19-Nov-20173 – Number of times India’s fast bowlers have picked all 10 wickets in a Test innings at home. The combined effort of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav is the first time they have done so in over 30 years. The previous instance was against West Indies in Ahmedabad in 1983 when Kapil Dev took nine wickets and Balwinder Sandhu took one. The first time this happened was against England at Wankhede in 1982 when Kapil and Madan Lal shared five wickets each.1986 – The last time three fast bowlers picking two or more wickets for India in an innings of a home Test. Coincidentally, this happened against Sri Lanka in Kanpur, with Kapil, B Arun, India’s current bowling coach, and Chetan Sharma being the trio. Overall, this is the fourth such instance for India at home.31 – Wickets Shami and Bhuvneshwar have combined to pick at Eden Gardens in last three Tests they’ve played here – against West Indies in November 2013, New Zealand in September 2016 and in this match. All other Indian bowlers combined have managed only 17 wickets in these three matches at an average of 29.64. In comparison, Shami and Bhuvneshwar have combined average of 17.77. Shami has picked at least three wickets in each of the five innings while Bhuvneshwar has two four-wicket hauls. Among 23 India bowlers who have picked 10 or more wickets at Eden Gardens, Shami and Bhuvneshwar have the best two averages.
Bowlers Wkts Ave SR 4-forsShami & Bhuvneshwar 31 17.77 32.29 5All other India bowlers 17 29.64 64.64 024.79 – Average of fast bowlers at Eden Gardens in last five years. Among 15 venues that have hosted Tests in this period, only Pune, which has hosted a solitary Test – against Australia earlier this year – has a better average (17.77) for the quicks. In four Tests in last five years at Eden Gardens, pacers have picked up 69 wickets at 24.79, while spinners have 49 wickets at 32.93. In five years prior to that, in three Tests at the venue, spinners had a better average (46.59) than pacers (59.90)9 – Overs bowled by spinners for India in the first innings – eight by R Ashwin and one by Ravindra Jadeja. It is the least that India’s spinners have bowled in the first innings of a home Test. The previous record was in the Delhi Test of 1987 against West Indies, when the spinners bowled 16 overs.2010 – The last time India had century opening partnership in their second innings of a Test before Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul did it in this match. The previous one was between Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir against South Africa in Centurion. This is India’s second century stand for the first wicket this year and both have been put on by Dhawan and Rahul against Sri Lanka.1 – Number of bigger opening stands for India at Eden Gardens than the 166 between Rahul and Dhawan in this match. The highest is 191 by VVS Laxman and Navjot Sidhu against Australia in 1997-98. This is the first century partnership for the first wicket for India at Eden Gardens since 1999, and only the fourth overall.9 – Scores of 50 or more for Rahul in Tests this year, in 13 innings – the joint-most along with Dean Elgar (20 innings). Rahul failed to convert the first eight fifties into hundreds but is unbeaten on 73 at end of day four in this Test. Rahul is the first India batsman in six years to make that many scores of 50 or more in a calendar year; the previous player to do so was Rahul Dravid in 2011.
