Stats: Adil Rashid joins a rare list of players to win a Test match without any contribution

Adil Rashid was amongst the news ahead of the 5-match Test series against India as the leg-spinner got picked in the squad after giving up red-ball cricket to concentrate more in the limited-overs format. He took the decision of skipping the County Championship for his team Yorkshire but troubling the India batsmen including Virat Kohli in the ODI series led to him getting a surprise Test call-up. His selection was widely criticized by many as the County performances were ignored by the selectors.

The spinner had a limited role to play in the first Test at Edgbaston where he scored 29 runs across both the innings and bagged three wickets. The series moved to Lord’s where Rashid was hardly seen on the field. This was because of England’s 4-man pace attack being enough to destroy the Indians. The visiting side lasted only 82.2 overs in a span where they faced only the premium bowlers James Anderson, Stuart Broad and the all-rounders in Chris Woakes and Sam Curran.

Adil Rashid didn’t get to bat either as the hosts declared their innings after they lost Curran’s wicket on 4th morning. He was slated to come out to bat at No.9 only ahead of Broad and Anderson. He had no chance of taking any catches on the field either. Thus, he became only the 13th player in the history of Test cricket to be part of a winning XI without batting or bowling and without taking a catch or affecting a stumping. Australia’s Bill Johnston is the only player to record two such instances.

The left-arm bowler was injured in 3rd Test (Georgetown) of the 1955 series in Windies and didn’t play in the next game. He then twisted his knee while trying to go for a catch in 5th Test (Kingston). Both the times Johnston got injured and left the field before he bowled or batted and was absent for the remainder of the matches. Another Australian bowler Craig McDermott was rushed to hospital on the second day of the 1993 Lord’s Test for an operation on a twisted bowel, which ruled him out of the rest of the series.

India’s Nari Contractor and AG Kripal Singh didn’t bat or bowl and didn’t take a catch/stumping during the Chennai Test victory against New Zealand in 1956. Out of the 14 instances in this list, Australia’s win in 1955 Georgetown Test and India’s win in the 2016 Indore Test (Wriddhiman Saha) were the only matches that were not innings victories. Saha is also the only wicketkeeper to be part of the list as the Indian player didn’t get to bat in both innings and wasn’t part of any of the 20 wickets taken by his team in the game.

Rashid is only the third player to win a Test match while playing as specialist bowler without bowling in the game (not injured). England’s spinner Gareth Batty wasn’t used in the 2005 Lord’s Test against Bangladesh where he didn’t contribute to the team’s cause. New Zealand’s off-spinner Grant Bradburn didn’t get to bat or bowl in the 2001 Hamilton Test against Pakistan but did take two catches in the 2nd innings.

Instances of players winning a Test match without batting, without bowling, 0 catches and 0 stumpings:

(Stats as on August 12, 2018)

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