Indian Cricket Team Updates

Jos Buttler (70) became the fourth player to score fifties in first two Test innings as a wicketkeeper after India’s Dilawar Hussain, West Indies’ Desmond Lewis and Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal. (Also Read:  Report: England vs India, 4th Investec Test - Day 3 ) Pankaj Singh finally took his first Test wicket off his 416th delivery when he dismissed Joe Root. He is, however, very far off the record of most balls bowled by a bowler before taking his first Test wicket. Another Indian AG Milkha Singh holds this record, as his maiden Test wicket came off his 652nd ball! Stuart Broad had to retire hurt when Varun Aaron’s bouncer hit him on the face. The last batsman to get retired hurt against India after being hit was Australia’s Steve Waugh (Melbourne in December 2003). Waugh got hit on the left elbow by Ajit Agarkar. Indian openers once again failed to put on a fifty stand. It has now been 31 consecutive innings outside India that the opening pair has not managed a fifty-stand sin...

In response to England’s 215-run lead the Indian batting lineup capitulated to Moeen Ali’s spin and caved in to the James Anderson-led pace attack for 161 runs. After wrapping up England’s first innings for 367 in the second session at Old Trafford, the visitors were bowled out for 161 in 43 overs on Saturday evening. After Anderson set the ball rolling with the wicket of Gautam Gambhir in the final session, the rest of the lineup succumbed to the England bowling without much resistance and now trail the series 1-2. (Also Read:  Stats Highlights: England vs India, 4th Investec Test - Day 3 ) While Murali Vijay and Gautam Gambhir took guard, Chris Woakes opened the bowling with James Anderson with Stuart Broad being injured by a Varun Aaron bouncer in the over after Lunch.  With over two days left in the game, India needed to occupy the crease even as they looked to put runs on the scoreboard in order to save the game.  With their task cut out, the openers played...

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.  (Also Read:  Report: England vs India, 3rd Investec Test - Day 5 ) 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 since 1967 when Ray Illingworth took 20 wickets in three matches. 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 th...

India lost the third Test of the five-match series to England by 266 runs on the fifth morning in Southampton. The Indian line-up disintegrated in the first session of the final day as they lost six wickets for 66 runs. While Ajinkya Rahane fought to keep the team afloat, James Anderson and Moeen Ali ran through the line-up at the other end. Rahane was left stranded on 52 as Anderson claimed two wickets while the off-spinner finished with six to help England level the series 1-1.  (Also Read:  Stats Highlights: England vs India, 3rd Investec Test - Day 4 ) Resuming on 112 for four, India were 333 runs short of the target but more pertinently, the visitors needed to dig in their heels and save the game. The Indian line-up though caved in to the England bowling attack without much resistance. On the ninth ball of the day they lost their fifth wicket of the innings. Anderson who has been instrumental in England’s fortune in the third Test this far, claimed Rohit Sharma with...

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. (Also Read:  Report: England vs India, 3rd Investec Test - Day 4 ) Alastair Cook provided the 13th instance of an opposing captain not enforcing the follow-on on India (despite being entitled to do so). Of the previous 12 such instances, India managed to earn a draw only once and lost 11. India lost all four against England in such circumstances.   (Also Read:  Will be hard to save the Test: Shikhar Dhawan ) Pankaj Singh conceded 179 runs in 47 overs without taking a wicket. He now holds the dubious distinction of conceding most runs by a wicketless bowler on debut. Pakistan’s Sohail Khan 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 h...

Ajinkya Rahane made his fifth fifty-plus score in seventh Test outside India. (Also Read:  Report: England vs India, 3rd Investec Test - Day 3 ) Rahane has now aggregated 589 runs in his first seven Tests outside India. Only four Indians – Sunil Gavaskar (918), Gautam Gambhir (831), Sandeep Patil (626) and Rahul Dravid (615)- have scored more runs than Rahane in first seven away Tests. Moeen Ali – with wickets of Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane- took his series-tally to 9. Only James Anderson (12) and Stuart Broad (10) have taken more wickets than Moeen in the series for England. MS Dhoni’s six off Moeen Ali 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: 6s Captain Inns 50 MS Dhoni (Ind) 87 49 Brian Lara (WI) 85 48 Clive Lloyd (WI) 111 46 Viv Richards (WI) 74 37 ...