Mumbai, Nov 26: After the England spinners ran through most of the Indian line-up on Day 3, the rest of the Indian batters couldn’t offer much resistance on Day 4. The remaining 3 wickets were also bagged by the spin duo of Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann. In the process the two tweakers accounted for 19 out of the 20 Indian wickets that fell in the Test match. While Panesar clocked the fourth best match figures by a visiting spinner in India, Swann went past 50 Test wickets in this calendar year. This particular 10-wicket loss also marked the 50th occasion when India have been trumped on home soil.
Here are these and some more interesting stats from Day 4 of the Mumbai Test:
Gautam Gambhir (65) was dismissed last after opening the innings. He thus just missed the distinction of becoming only the fourth Indian to carry his bat through an innings. Sunil Gavaskar (127* v Pakistan, Faisalabad, 1982-83), Virender Sehwag (201* v Sri Lanka, Galle, 2008) and Rahul Dravid (146* v England, The Oval, 2011) are the three Indians who have accomplished this feat.
Monty Panesar’s match figures of 11 for 210 are the fourth best by a visiting spinner on Indian soil, after Australia’s Jason Krejza’s 12 for 358 (Nagpur, 2008-09) and Richie Benaud’s 11 for 105 (Kolkata, 1956-57); and England’s Hedley Verity’s 11 for 153 (Chennai, 1933-34).
Panesar and Swann took 19 out of 20 Indian wickets; 9 in the first innings and all 10 in the second. The only wicket they did not take was that of Gautam Gambhir in first innings, who was dismissed by James Anderson. This was only the second time that two bowlers took 19 wickets in a Test against India. The only other such instance was at Colombo SSC in 2008 when Muttiah Muralitharan (11) and Ajantha Mendis (8) decimated India.
Graeme Swann, with his four wickets in the second innings, took his wicket tally in Tests in 2012 to 53. He thus became first bowler to take 50 Test wickets this year.
England won the Test within four days. This was the fourth occasion when England beat India in India in four or fewer days. England beat India in three days at Kanpur in 1951-52 and in four days at Mumbai Gymkhana and Chennai in 1933-34, before this win.
Incidentally England have now beaten India in India within 4 days on most occasions. Australia and South Africa have done so thrice each, followed by Pakistan (2).
This was India’s fifth defeat by a 10-wicket margin at home. England have inflicted three such defeats on India. The last time India lost a Test match by 10 wickets at home was against Australia, also at Mumbai Wankhede in 2000-01.
The defeat was India’s 50th in 236 home Tests. They now join England (109), Australia (94), South Africa (64), New Zealand (61) and West Indies (52) in losing 50 Tests at home.
The defeat was skipper MS Dhoni’s only second on home soil. His only other defeat a captain came against South Africa at Nagpur in 2009-10 when South Africa won by an innings and 6 runs.
