India v Sri Lanka, 2017: 1st Test, Day 5 – Statistical Highlights

A Test match with a mere 32 overs of play on the first two days went down the wire as India were only three wickets away from a historic win before bad light had the final say in the game. The Indian team lost wickets regularly in the morning session before Virat Kohli struck a century by scoring quick runs in the post-lunch session. His innings helped India declare at 352/8 and set a target of 231. The Indian pacers unsettled the Lankan batsmen to remove seven wickets for 75 in 26.3 overs before play was called off with over 20 overs to be played.

Here are all the stats and numbers recorded during the thrilling final day’s play:

0 – Number of wickets taken by Indian spinners in this game. This is the first time in a home Test match Indian spinners failed to take a wicket. Out of the 262nd Tests in India thrice the spinners have failed to take a wicket whereas the Indian team didn’t bowl in the other two matches they also ended in a draw.

1 – Virat Kohli became the first Indian captain with a century and duck in the same Test match. Overall, Kohli is the 18th captain with this double in a Test match.

2 – Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s 4-wicket haul in the 2nd innings is the joint cheapest 4-fer by an Indian in Test cricket. He took 4/8 at an average of two runs equalling Venkatapathy Raju’s 6/12 also against India in 1990.

9 – Cheteshwar Pujara became the 9th player to bat on all the days of a 5-day Test match. He is the 3rd Indian after ML Jaisimha and Ravi Shastri, who also recorded the feat in Kolkata’s Eden Gardens. However, Pujara’s match aggregate of 74 is the lowest among the nine such occurrences.

17 – The 17 wickets taken by the Indian pacers are the most in a home Test match. They had picked up 16 wickets on three different occasions previously. The three 4-wicket hauls by the Indian pacers are also the most by them in a home Test.

32 – A total of 32 wickets in this Test were bagged by the pace bowlers which is the 2nd most in a Test match on Indian soil. India-West Indies Test match in 1983 played in Ahmedabad had witnessed 33 wickets falling to pacers.

38 – The 38 overs bowled by spinners in this Test are the joint 2nd fewest in a Test match in India. 26.1 overs were bowled in the Chennai Test between India and New Zealand in 1995 and 38 overs in the 2015 Bangalore Test between India and South Africa but both the games lasted less than 90 overs.

50 – Number of centuries for Virat Kohli across all formats. He needed 348 innings to score his 50th International century the fewest along with Hashim Amla. This was also Kohli’s 11th century and thus he equalled Sunil Gavaskar’s 11 Test hundreds as an Indian captain.