Ravichandran Ashwin and Virat Kohli's record breaking year: Statistical preview of India vs England, 5th Test
This will be India's 507th Test, 256th at home, 116th against England and 32nd at Chepauk. This will be also the first Test at Chennai since 2012-13.
India will take on England in the fifth and final Test of the five-match series at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai. After beating England in the fourth Test at Mumbai, India has sealed the series in their favour and will look to end with a win. On the other hand, England must be looking for to end the series on a positive note by winning the final one. Despite this being a dead rubber, one can expect an exciting contest between these two teams as India are in no mood of mercy, while England will play for pride. Meanwhile, we present some interesting reaching milestones and statistics ahead of the fifth Test.
This will be India’s 507th Test, 256th at home, 116th against England and 32nd at Chepauk. This will be also the first Test at Chennai since 2012-13.
Virat Kohli has scored 692 runs in the ongoing series. Another 83 runs will make him the highest run-getter as an Indian batsman in a Test series. Sunil Gavaskar holds the current record with 774 runs against West Indies in 1970-71.
If India wins this Test, it will their 9th win in 2016, the most wins for India in a calendar year. India won 8 Tests in 2010.
If England loses this Test, then this will be their 8th defeat in 2016, their joint-most losses in a calendar year, along with 1984, 1986 and 1993.
FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs England 5th Test at Chennai
If India manages to beat England in the 5th Test as well, it will be the 1st occasion of England losing 4 matches in a Test series against India. Moreover, if England manages to draw, then they will lose the series 0-3 for the second time, after 1992-93 in India. Well, there is no such instance of any team winning a Test against India after having already lost 3 in a series.
This will be Ravichandran Ashwin’s 43rd Test. Three more wickets in the Test will make him the fastest to reach 250 wickets landmark by a significant margin. The current record-holder is Dennis Lillee, who reached the 250-wicket mark in 48 Tests.
Ashwin needs 5 more scalps to break the record for most wickets by an Indian in a calendar year. Ashwin has 71 wickets in 2016, behind only Kapil Dev (75 wickets in 1983 and 74 in 1979) and Anil Kumble (74 in 2004).
So far, Ashwin has taken 44 wickets of England batsman in his career. If he takes 6 more here, Ashwin will become the 5th Indian to take 50 or more English wickets after Bhagwat Chandrasekhar (95), Kumble (92), Bishan Singh Bedi (85) and Vinoo Mankad (54).
England has lost 21 Tests under Cook. One more defeat will take him past Michael Atherton’s record for losing most Tests as England captain.
England have won 24 Tests under Cook. One more win will take him to the 2nd spot in terms of most wins as England captain. He is currently at joint-second spot in the list along with Andrew Strauss. Michael Vaughan has the record of winning most Tests (26) as England captain.
Cook has scored 2,045 runs against India till now. Another 5 runs will make him go past Michael Clarke’s tally of 2,049 runs and Cook will become 5th highest run-getter against India.
Kohli has made 2,580 runs in 2016 across formats. He needs 47 more to become the highest run getter for India in a calendar year across formats. Kohli is currently standing at a joint-second spot with Sourav Ganguly, who scored 2,580 runs in 1999, while Rahul Dravid has most runs in the list with 2,626 runs in 1999.
Cook needs 2 runs to complete his 11,000 Test runs. He will become the 10th batsman to achieve this milestone after Tendulkar (15,921), Ricky Ponting (13,378), Jacques Kallis (13,289), Dravid (13,288), Kumar Sangakkara (12,400), Brian Lara (11,953), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (11,867), Mahela Jayawardene (11,814) and Allan Border (11,174).
Moeen Ali needs 3 wickets to reach the landmark of 100 Test wickets. He will become the 46th English bowler and 19th spinner from England to take 100 Test wickets. 176 bowlers have taken 100 Test wickets till date.
Chris Woakes needs 2 wickets complete 50 Test wickets. He will become 85th English bowler and 54th pacer from England to achieve this milestone.
Cook needs one more hundred to go past Kevin Pietersen’s tally of 6 hundred against India — the most by any English batsman. The record for most Test hundreds by anyone against India (8) is shared by Garry Sobers, Viv Richards and Ricky Ponting.
Joe Root has held 26 catches in 2016. He needs 5 more to break the all-time record for most catches by a non-wicketkeeper in a calendar year in Tests. Graeme Smith holds the current record with 30 catches in 2008.
Ben Stokes needs 127 runs to reach 2,000 Test run-mark. He will become 56th English batsman to go past 2,000 Test runs.
Jonny Bairstow is 62 runs away from breaking Vaughan’s record for most runs by an English batsman in a calendar year. Vaughan’s record is of 1,481 runs was in 2002. Bairstow currently has 1,420. Not too far behind is Root, on 1,383.
If he gets 2 wickets, Adil Rashid will become the second-highest wicket-taker among touring leg-spinners in a series in India after Richie Benaud (twice: 29 wickets in 1959-60 and 23 in 1956-57).
If he takes 2 catches, Parthiv Patel will become 6th Indian wicketkeeper to take 50 catches in Tests.
If he takes 9 wickets, James Anderson (86 wickets) will go past Imran Khan (94) to become the second-highest Test wicket-taker against India. Muttiah Muralitharan holds the current record, with 105.
Jayant Yadav needs only 27 runs to hold the record for most runs by a batsman in a Test series batting at No. 9. Jayant (221) is currently behind only Bhuvneshwar Kumar (247), Stuart Broad (244) and Asif Iqbal (222).
India has played 31 Tests at Chennai. Out of them, they won 13, lost 6, tied 1 and drawn 11. Their 13 wins at Chepauk are the joint-most on any ground, on par with Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi. A win here will make Chepauk India’s most successful ground.
On the other hand, England has played 8 Tests so far at this venue. They have won 3, lost 4 and drawn 1. Barring Feroz Shah Kotla and Wankhede, Chepauk is the only Indian venue where England have won 3 Tests.
If the 5th Test ends in a draw or in England’s favour, then they will slip to the third position in rankings. But, if India wins the Test, England will go down to the 5th position in ICC Test rankings. India, however, will remain on top irrespective of the result.