Blog Posts by HR Gopala Krishna

Ravi Rampaul with his 86 not out in the second ODI
against India in Vizag rewrote the record books. This was the highest score by
a batsman playing at No. 10.

The previous best was 73 not out by Pakistan's Mohammad
Aamir against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi in 2009.

Rampaul's was just the fifth fifty scored at No.
10. The full list:

Last-wicket
Heroics

Rampaul and Kemar Roach added 99 unbeaten runs for
the 10^th wicket. It's the third highest last-wicket stand in ODIs.

It was also the highest last-wicket stand against
India, beating a record created in 1983.

The three fifty-plus stands against India:

Daniel Vettori
was run out for 96 in the first Test between Australia and New
Zealand in Brisbane
providing the 40^th such instance.

Vettori
is the fourth New Zealand
batsman to dismissed in a such a manner. The whole list:

Vettori is the seventh batsman to suffer this fate against Australia. The whole list:

PP Ojha {6
for 34} and R Ashwin {4 for 37} shared the ten wickets equally in the West
Indian second innings at Mumbai in the final Test of the just concluded
India-West Indies series. Their feat provides 19^th
occasion of two Indian bowlers sharing the wickets in a Test innings. The feat
also provides the sixth such occasion against West Indies. 

Wankhede
Stadium, Mumbai has witnessed three such occasions - vs. England in Dec 1981, Vs West Indies in Dec 1981
and vs. West Indies in Nov 2011. All the
nineteen occasions are listed below.

Ravichandran
Ashwin's 22 wicket in his debut series was a pleasing achievement.

It
is the most number of wickets an Indian bowler has taken in a three-Test
series.

For
most wickets in a series with more number of matches, the following bowlers
hold the record:

Dilip
Doshi holds the Indian record for most wickets in his debut series, but he played six
Tests for his 27 wickets.

Here's
the list of debutants with 20 or more wickets for India.

Note that all the
others ended with more than a hundred Test wickets.

Ravichandran Aswhin has given India's fans reasons
to rejoice after his stupendous all-round act in the
Mumbai Test. 

The off-spinner took 5-156 and 4-34, and also
scored 103 batting at No. 8. He is just the fifth cricketer in Test history to
score a hundred and take nine wickets in a game.

The others:

Rare All-round Act

Ashwin's
performance would whet the appetite of those who've been waiting for the
arrival of a genuine Indian all-rounder.

His
rare act of a hundred and a fiver in a Test has been done only by 19 other
cricketers.

The
last time it happened in India was in 1980, interestingly at the same venue, by
Ian Botham.

The 27 occasions of a hundred

Scoring runs against the West Indies was a big
deal a couple of decades ago. Their army of vicious pace bowlers made the team
phenomenally successful in the 1970s and 1980s.

It was then that Sunil Gavaskar made most of his 2,749
runs against them, the most anyone has made against the Caribbean side.

Sachin Tendulkar, during the course of his 94 in
the Mumbai Test, completed 1500 Test runs against the West Indies, become the
19^th batsman and the fifth Indian to do so.

Among current players, Jacques Kallis with 2356
runs is the leader.

The
five Indians:

West

Ravichandran Ashwin's 5 for 156 and 103 in the second Test at Mumbai
against West Indies provide the 27^th occasion an all-round
performance - batsman scoring a hundred and capturing five or more wickets in
the same Test. All the 27 such occasions are listed below:

Rahul Dravid completed 13,000 Test runs by
reaching 21 during his innings of 82 against West Indies in the
Mumbai Test.

He's just the second batsman in Test history to do
this. Sachin Tendulkar, with 15,180, is the other.

Dravid's opposition-wise break-up: