England vs India Test Series - Mega Milestones
England's series whitewash over India has been full of numerical achievements. The series witnessed the 2000th Test and the 100th between the two sides. It also witnessed MS Dhoni's first series defeat as the skipper of the Indian team.
Following are the milestones that occurred during the series-
# Rahul Dravid became the first batsman to reach the 10,000-run mark at No. 3 when he played in Birmingham.
# MS Dhoni and Praveen Kumar added 84 and 75 runs for the eighth wicket in the first and second innings respectively to become the only pair to put on 75-run partnerships for the eighth wicket in each innings of a Test.
# Rahul Dravid became the second highest run-scorer in Test cricket during the Lord’s Test, surpassing Ricky Ponting's tally of 12,363 runs.
# Rahul Dravid achieved the distinction of scoring more runs than any other batsman in the fourth innings of a Test match during the Lord’s Test, moving ahead of West Indies batsman Brian Lara’s record tally of 1,440 runs.
# Sachin Tendulkar became the first player to appear in 100 overseas Tests when he played the second Test at Nottingham.
# Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar became the most successful batting pair in Test cricket at The Oval. These two surpassed the run tally of West Indies pair Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, who had aggregated 6482 runs in 148 innings. Dravid and Tendulkar already hold the world record for most century partnerships.
# Dismissing Amit Mishra at The Oval, Graeme Swann completed 150 wickets in Test cricket. He became the fifth England spinner after Derek Underwood (297), Jim Laker (193), Tony Lock (174) and Fred Titmus (153) to reach this landmark.
# Catching RP Singh off the bowling of Stuart Broad at The Oval, Matt Prior completed 150 dismissals in Test cricket. He became the sixth England keeper to reach this mark after Allan Knott (269), Alec Stewart (241), Godfrey Evans (219), Bob Taylor (174) and Jack Russell (165).
# The first Test match at Lord’s was the 2000th Test match in cricket history. The first 1000 Tests took 107 years to be played while the next 1000 came in just 27 years.
# The first Test match of the series was also the 100th Test between India and England. This provided the fifth instance in Test cricket of two teams completing a century of Tests against each other. The other four are: Australia v England – 326, England v West Indies – 145, England v South Africa – 138 and Australia v West Indies – 108.
# The Lord’s Test was the 100th for Duncan Fletcher as coach. His tally included 96 matches for England and four for India (at that time). Fletcher thus became the first player to coach in 100 Tests.
# Kevin Pietersen completed 6,000 runs in Test cricket during the Lord’s Test, becoming the 12th England player to accomplish this feat. Having taken 75 Tests and 128 innings to complete 6,000 runs, Pietersen became the fourth fastest among England players to reach this mark. Only Wally Hammond (114 innings), Len Hutton (116) and Ken Barrington (116) did so in fewer innings for England.
# At Nottingham, Stuart Broad became the 12th England player and 36th bowler in Test cricket to take a hat-trick. He also became the first bowler to take a Test match hat-trick against India.
# England posted their highest ever score against India at Birmingham when they made 710 for seven declared.
# Virender Sehwag recorded a king pair at Birmingham. He became only the second opener to suffer this fate after Bangladesh’s Javed Omar.
# Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen added 309 runs for the third wicket at The Oval - the highest partnership for England against India for any wicket, beating the 308-run partnership between Graham Gooch and Allan Lamb at Lord’s in 1990.
# Ian Bell completed 5,000 runs in Test cricket in the fourth Test at The Oval. He became the 21st England player and 79th batsman overall to reach this milestone. At 29 years 132 days, Bell is the fourth youngest among England players to complete 5,000 runs. Only Alastair Cook, David Gower and Mike Atherton have reached the mark at a younger age than Bell.
England's series whitewash over India has been full of numerical achievements. The series witnessed the 2000th Test and the 100th between the two sides. It also witnessed MS Dhoni's first series defeat as the skipper of the Indian team.
Following are the milestones that occurred during the series-
# Rahul Dravid became the first batsman to reach the 10,000-run mark at No. 3 when he played in Birmingham.
# MS Dhoni and Praveen Kumar added 84 and 75 runs for the eighth wicket in the first and second innings respectively to become the only pair to put on 75-run partnerships for the eighth wicket in each innings of a Test.
# Rahul Dravid became the second highest run-scorer in Test cricket during the Lord’s Test, surpassing Ricky Ponting's tally of 12,363 runs.
# Rahul Dravid achieved the distinction of scoring more runs than any other batsman in the fourth innings of a Test match during the Lord’s Test, moving ahead of West Indies batsman Brian Lara’s record tally of 1,440 runs.
# Sachin Tendulkar became the first player to appear in 100 overseas Tests when he played the second Test at Nottingham.
# Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar became the most successful batting pair in Test cricket at The Oval. These two surpassed the run tally of West Indies pair Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, who had aggregated 6482 runs in 148 innings. Dravid and Tendulkar already hold the world record for most century partnerships.
# Dismissing Amit Mishra at The Oval, Graeme Swann completed 150 wickets in Test cricket. He became the fifth England spinner after Derek Underwood (297), Jim Laker (193), Tony Lock (174) and Fred Titmus (153) to reach this landmark.
# Catching RP Singh off the bowling of Stuart Broad at The Oval, Matt Prior completed 150 dismissals in Test cricket. He became the sixth England keeper to reach this mark after Allan Knott (269), Alec Stewart (241), Godfrey Evans (219), Bob Taylor (174) and Jack Russell (165).
# The first Test match at Lord’s was the 2000th Test match in cricket history. The first 1000 Tests took 107 years to be played while the next 1000 came in just 27 years.
# The first Test match of the series was also the 100th Test between India and England. This provided the fifth instance in Test cricket of two teams completing a century of Tests against each other. The other four are: Australia v England – 326, England v West Indies – 145, England v South Africa – 138 and Australia v West Indies – 108.
# The Lord’s Test was the 100th for Duncan Fletcher as coach. His tally included 96 matches for England and four for India (at that time). Fletcher thus became the first player to coach in 100 Tests.
# Kevin Pietersen completed 6,000 runs in Test cricket during the Lord’s Test, becoming the 12th England player to accomplish this feat. Having taken 75 Tests and 128 innings to complete 6,000 runs, Pietersen became the fourth fastest among England players to reach this mark. Only Wally Hammond (114 innings), Len Hutton (116) and Ken Barrington (116) did so in fewer innings for England.
# At Nottingham, Stuart Broad became the 12th England player and 36th bowler in Test cricket to take a hat-trick. He also became the first bowler to take a Test match hat-trick against India.
# England posted their highest ever score against India at Birmingham when they made 710 for seven declared.
# Virender Sehwag recorded a king pair at Birmingham. He became only the second opener to suffer this fate after Bangladesh’s Javed Omar.
# Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen added 309 runs for the third wicket at The Oval - the highest partnership for England against India for any wicket, beating the 308-run partnership between Graham Gooch and Allan Lamb at Lord’s in 1990.
# Ian Bell completed 5,000 runs in Test cricket in the fourth Test at The Oval. He became the 21st England player and 79th batsman overall to reach this milestone. At 29 years 132 days, Bell is the fourth youngest among England players to complete 5,000 runs. Only Alastair Cook, David Gower and Mike Atherton have reached the mark at a younger age than Bell.