Five-for on debut, and fifth consecutive Test win for India

Stats highlights from India's fifth consecutive Test-win, at the Eden Gardens

Shiva Jayaraman

08-Nov-2013

Mohammed Shami bowled with great pace and precision, India v West Indies, 1st Test, Kolkata, 3rd day, November 8, 2013

Mohammed Shami's bowling in this match was a rare high in the annals of fast-bowling performances for India at home. His bowling figures for the match are the fourth-best by an India fast-bowler at home and the best since Javagal Srinath took 13 for 132 against Pakistan at the Eden Gardens in 1999. Before that, a better bowling performance than Shami's by an India fast bowler came way back in 1983 when Kapil Dev took 10 for 135 against West Indies in Ahmedabad in 1983.

Shami's bowling figures for the match are the best by an India fast-bowler on debut and the second-best by an India bowler on debut.

Shami's five-wicket haul was only the third by an India fast-bowler on debut in Tests. Including him, only eight India bowlers have taken a five-for (or more) on debut in Tests.

This is the first time that India have won five Tests in a row. This sequence started for them with the Test in Chennai against Australia earlier this year. Before this, India have had two sequences of four consecutive wins - against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in 2009-10 and against England and Zimbabwe in 1993.

Rohit Sharma's 177 in India's first innings beat Doug Walters' 155 against England in Brisbane in 1965, which was the previous highest by a No. 6 batsman on debut. Rohit fell ten runs short of Shikhar Dhawan's 187 against Australia in Mohali, which is the highest score by an India batsman on debut.

Rohit is only the fifth India player to win the Man-of-the-Match award on Test debut and the second India player this year after Shikhar Dhawan. Click here for a list of players who have won Man-of-the-Match award on debut in Tests.

Shane Shillingford's bowling figures of 6 for 167 in India's first innings are the second-best at the Eden Gardens in Tests by a visiting spinner. Richie Benaud's 6 for 52 in 1956 are the best by a visiting spinner at the Eden Gardens. Shillingford's figures are also the best by a West Indies spinner at this venue and only the second instance of a West Indies spinner taking a five-wicket haul (or more) at the venue.

This was Ashwin's second hundred in Tests. Ashwin now averages 41.11 in Tests and has scored 690 runs at an average of 40.58 batting at No. 8. MS Dhoni and Mahmudullah are the only other batsmen to have scored 500 or more runs at an average of 40 or more in Tests at No. 8.

Ashwin continued his good all-round form against West Indies in this Test. He has now hit a hundred and taken five wickets for the match against them in consecutive Tests. He had hit a hundred and taken nine wickets the last time India played against West Indies in Mumbai in 2011. Only four other India players have hit a hundred and taken five or more wickets for the match. Ashwin's the only one to do it twice.

The 280-run partnership between Rohit and R Ashwin is India's highest in Tests for the seventh wicket, beating the unbeaten 259-run partnership between VVS Laxman and MS Dhoni against South Africa at the same venue in 2010. This was also the second-highest partnership for India against West Indies for any wicket in Tests. The Eden Gardens has clearly been a productive venue for India against West Indies as far as partnerships are concerned. India's highest partnership against them, an unbeaten 344 between Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar, also came here in 1978. Also, four of the top six partnerships for India, against West Indies, have come at the Eden Gardens.

There was hardly any resistance with the bat from West Indies' lower middle-order and tail in this match - the 154 runs that West Indies added for their final seven wickets wickets in the match are their lowest ever against India in Tests.

This was Dhoni's eighth win in Tests by a margin of an innings as captain. He has equalled Mohammad Azharuddin's record for most wins by an innings in Tests by an India captain. Sourav Ganguly is next in that list with seven wins. With this match, Dhoni has captained India in 48 Tests and is now second in the list of players to have captained India in most Tests. Only Sourav Ganguly (49) has captained India in more Tests than Dhoni.

Mohammed Shami Ravichandran Ashwin Shane Shillingford India West Indies India vs West Indies West Indies tour of India

Shiva Jayaraman is sub-editor (stats) at ESPNcricinfo