Mumbai, Nov 25: Sachin Tendulkar may have been dismissed in the nervous 90s denying his legion of fans the opportunity to toast his hundredth ton. But all was not lost for Indian supporters. R Ashwin, the man with five wickets to his name, came out and scored a dazzling century, breaking age-old records set by all-rounders without any fuss. Virat Kohli too held things together with a useful 50 but the day’s honours undoubtedly belonged to the young off-spinner with an enviable record in just his third Test match. Take a look at the numbers that matter from Ashwin’s day of glory.
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Sachin Tendulkar (94) got dismissed in the nineties for the tenth time in his career. He now holds the dubious distinction of getting out in the nineties on the most number of occasions in Test cricket. Tendulkar moved ahead of Australia’s Michael Slater and fellow team-mate Rahul Dravid’s tally of nine such scores.
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Incidentally, Tendulkar already holds the corresponding ODI record with 17 dismissals in the nineties. He also remained unbeaten on 96 on one occasion in ODIs. Tendulkar’s 28 scores in the nineties are the maximum for any batsman in international cricket. Rahul Dravid is a distant second with 14 scores in the nineties. South Africa’s Jacques Kallis and Australia’s Ricky Ponting are joint third with 13 such scores.
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Virat Kohli (52) scored his maiden fifty in Test cricket.
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R Ashwin followed his figures of five for 156 with his maiden Test hundred (103). Ashwin thus became only the third Indian player to score a hundred and take a five-wicket haul in the same Test. Others to do so for India are Vinoo Mankad (184 & 5-196 v England at Lord’s in 1952) and Polly Umrigar (172* & 5-107 v West Indies at Port-of-Spain in 1961-62).
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A total of 17 Indian players have scored a century and also taken a five-wicket haul in Test cricket. No one has done this faster than Ashwin who reached the two milestones in his only third Test (both milestones impressively came in the same match). To put Ashwin’s record in the right perspective, Kapil Dev – India’s biggest all-rounder – took 10 matches to have both a century and a five-for against his name. Ashwin wrested the Indian record from Lala Amarnath, who had both these milestones against his name in his fourth Test.
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Ashwin became the third No. 8 batsman for India to score a hundred against West Indies after MS Dhoni, who made 144 in the last Test at Kolkata, and Ajay Ratra, who made 115* at St.John’s in 2001-02.
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Ashwin also became the tenth Indian batsman (on the 13th occasion) to score a hundred while batting at No. 8. Kapil Dev, Harbhajan Singh and MS Dhoni have done this on two occasions each. Incidentally, there has been no individual hundred for India at a position lower than No. 8.
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India’s total of 482 is their highest in seven Tests at Wankhede against West Indies, surpassing 463 in 1983-84.
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Pragyan Ojha completed 250 wickets in first-class cricket with the dismissal of Kirk Edwards in thehis 58th match.
