India vs England, 2021: Third Test, Day 1: Axar Patel’s flurry of records, Rohit Sharma’s milestones, new heights for Ishant and more stats

India are in dominating position against England after the end of the first day of the third Test. English captain Joe Root won the toss and elected to bat first earlier in the day. Their batting lineup looked completely clueless against Indian spinners on this pitch. England were bowled out for only 112 runs in the first innings.

Axar Patel was the pick of the bowlers for India who took 6 wickets after giving away only 38 runs. Ravichandran Ashwin picked 3 wickets for 26 runs in his 16 overs. India scored 99 runs at the loss of 3 wickets at the end of the day’s play. Rohit Sharma has scored an unbeaten 57 runs off 82 balls till now. 

Let’s look at important stats and numbers after the end of the first day of the third Test between both teams:

A new scale for Stadium

132000 – Motera Stadium which has now been renamed Narendra Modi Stadium has become the largest stadium in terms of capacity (132000) to host an international match. Earlier, Melbourne Cricket Ground with a capacity of 100024 was at the top.

Ishant reaches new heights

100 – Ishant Sharma became only the second Indian pacer after Kapil Dev (131 Tests) to play 100 Test matches. He is the 11th Indian to achieve this feat and is fourth among the bowlers. Among Asian pacers, he is the fourth player to reach this milestone after Kapil Dev, Chaminda Vaas (111) and Wasim Akram(104).

104 – Ishant took 1 wicket in the first innings of England. He has now taken 104 wickets in India and has equalled Zaheer Khan in terms of Test wickets at home among pacers. Among Indian pacers, he is now at the joint third spot.

5 – Ishant Sharma became the fifth player to play 100 Tests without featuring in a single game of the ODI World Cup. Other players included in this unique record are Alastair Cook, VVS Laxman, Colin Cowdrey and Justin Langer.

Axar Patel’s flurry of records

3 – Axar Patel picked up a fifer in his second consecutive match. He is now only the third Indian player to take 2 fifers in the first 2 matches of his Test career. Narendra Hirwani in 1988 and Mohammad Nissar in 1933 achieved this feat earlier.

2 – Axar Patel has taken a total of 13 wickets in the first 3 innings of his Test career. Only Narendra Hirwani (18) is ahead of Axar among Indian bowlers.

2– Axar Patel’s figures of 6/38 are the second-best by a spinner in Day-Night Tests. Only Devendra Bishoo has registered better figures (8/49) as a spinner in Tests. Bishoo’s bowling performance came against Pakistan in 2016.

3 – Axar Patel became the third Indian bowler to pick a fifer in a Day-Night Test. He also registered best bowling figures by an Indian in Day-Night Test matches.

 England’s poor show with the bat

112 – England’s score of 112 is its second-lowest total on Indian soil. The only time when they scored less than 112 was in the Mumbai Test, 1981. They were bowled out for 102 runs in the fourth innings of that match against India.

2 – England’s total of 112 was also the second-lowest first innings total by a team against India in Test cricket. Earlier, the Bangladesh team were bowled out for 106 runs against India in the Kolkata Test, 2019.

Rohit Sharma’s milestones

6000 – Rohit Sharma completed 6000 runs at home in International cricket during his innings. He is the ninth Indian player to achieve this feat.

2500 – Rohit also crossed the 2500-run mark in Test cricket. He along with Martin Guptill and Virat Kohli are the only players to score over 2500 runs in all three formats.