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Stats Analysis

A bounty for Indian spinners

Stats highlights from a riveting final day in Mumbai

S Rajesh
S Rajesh
26-Nov-2011
India's spinners accounted for 42 wickets in the three Tests  •  AFP

India's spinners accounted for 42 wickets in the three Tests  •  AFP

  • For only the second time in Test cricket, a match was drawn with the scores being level. The only previous instance was in Bulawayo in a Test between Zimbabwe and England almost 15 years ago. England, chasing 205 for victory, finished the game on 204 for 6. This, however, is the first instance of a drawn Test with a team nine down and a run away from victory. Click here for the closest draws by runs remaining, and here for the closest draws by wickets remaining.
  • India thus finished a run away from only their third whitewash in a series of three or more Tests. Their two previous ones were also at home: against England (1992-93) and Sri Lanka (1993-94). West Indies, on the other hand, finished a run away from losing a Test after making the highest first-innings total. The existing record for the highest first-innings total in a Test defeat is 586, while West Indies had scored 590 in their first innings at the Wankhede.
  • Any result other than a draw seemed far-fetched at the beginning of the final day, before West Indies' stunning collapse. They were bundled out for 134, which is 456 fewer than their first-innings total of 590. In the history of Test cricket, there have only been three instances of a greater difference between the first- and second-innings totals of a team. This is West Indies' highest difference - their previous record was 431, in a Test against New Zealand in Barbados in 1972, when they scored 133 in the first innings and then recovered with 564 in the second.
  • India's spinners accounted for 42 wickets in the three Tests. Only five times have their spinners taken more wickets in a series of three or fewer Tests, and the last of those five instances was in 1993-94, when Sri Lanka were at the receiving end of a 3-0 whitewash. Among those five instances was also England's visit in 1992-93, when they too were given a 3-0 drubbing.
  • R Ashwin scored 121 runs at 40.33, and took 22 wickets at 22.90 - only the 15th instance of a player scoring more than 100 runs in a series at a 40-plus average, and taking more than 20 wickets at an average of less than 23.
  • Pragyan Ojha's 6 for 47 is his best bowling figures in a Test innings, bettering his haul of 6 for 72 in the first Test in Delhi. In 14 Tests, Ojha has 62 wickets at an average 34.62.
    • West IndiesIndiaIndia vs West IndiesWest Indies tour of India

    S Rajesh is stats editor of ESPNcricinfo. Follow him on Twitter