With a spectacular 224-run knock in the 1st innings of the 1st Test against Australia, Indian skipper MS Dhoni obliterated several notable and longstanding records. A few of his exploits include surpassing Sachin Tendukar’s 217* to notch up the highest score by an Indian captain, the most runs scored by a No.6 batter on Indian soil and the third highest score by an opposition skipper against the Aussies.
Here are these and many more stats highlights from Day 4 of the Chennai Test:
MS Dhoni’s 224 is the highest score by an Indian captain in Test cricket, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar’s 217 against New Zealand at Ahmedabad in 1999-00
Dhoni’s innings is also the highest by any No.6 batsman on Indian soil, surpassing AB de Villiers’ 217 not-out for South Africa at Ahmedabad in 2007-08. Incidentally, Rahul Dravid’s 180 – also against Australia at Kolkata in 2000-01 – was the previous highest score by an Indian No.6.
Dhoni’s innings is the third highest by any captain against Australia, after Wally Hammond’s 240 at Lord’s in 1938 and Salim Malik’s 237 at Rawalpindi in 1994-95.
The ninth wicket partnership of 140 runs between Dhoni and Bhuvneshwar Kumar is India’s third best for this wicket against any country, after the 149-run partnership between Nana Joshi and Ramakant Desai against Pakistan at Mumbai Brabourne in 1960-61; and the unbroken 143-run partnership between Sunil Gavaskar and Syed Kirmani at Chennai in 1983-84.
Nathan Lyon’s figures of 3 for 215 are the joint second most expensive by an Australian in an innings. Chuck Fleetwood-Smith had returned the figures of 1 for 298 in 87 overs against England at The Oval in 1938. Jason Krejza also conceded 215 runs while picking up 8 wickets also against India at Nagpur in 2008-09.
R Ashwin claimed his second 10-wicket match haul in Test cricket. He had claimed 12 for 85 against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 2012.
Ashwin has so far taken 75 wickets in his 13 Tests – most by an Indian bowler after first 13 Tests. Anil Kumble had taken 66 wickets at the same stage of his career.
A total of 13 ten-wicket match hauls have been taken at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium – most for any Indian ground. Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla is distant second with seven.
Moises Henriques (75*) scored his second fifty of the match. He is the fifth Australian batsman to score two fifties in his debut Test, after Herbie Collins, Peter Toohey, Rick Darling and Bruce Laird.
Henriques is only the second batsman to score two fifties on debut batting at No.7. Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal was the first to achieve this feat.
Henriques’ match-aggregate of 143 runs is the second best for any debutant at No.7, after Matt Prior’s 147 against West Indies at Lord’s in 1997.
