Statistical highlights of the opening cricket Test between India and England.
Day 1
# England (311/4) have registered their first total of 300 on the first day of a Test match vs India on Indian soil, outstripping the 288 for three at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai in 1961—62.
# In 20 successive innings, not even a single total of 300 or more was recorded by a visiting side before England’s above total in Tests on Indian soil. The last score of 300—plus by a visiting side was Australia’s 408 at Mohali in March 2013.
# Since posting 190 in the first innings of the 2012—13 Kolkata Test, Alastair Cook has posted 1 (second innings), 1 and 13 in the Nagpur Test and 21 in the present Rajkot Test — vs India in India in Tests.
# Joe Root is the first batsman to aggregate 1000 runs in Tests in 2015 as well as in in 2016 — his tallies being 1385 runs at an average of 60.21 in 14 Tests last year and 1110 (ave.52.85) in 13 Tests this year.
# Root is the second batsman to amass 1000 runs in Tests this year — the first being Jonny Bairstow — 1118 (ave 65.76) in 13 Tests.
# Root’s splendid knock of 124 is his eleventh hundred in Tests — his third vs India and his first in India.
# Root’s brilliant record vs India is without parallel — his tally being 735 runs in ten innings at an average of 105.00, including three hundreds and four fifties.
# Root’s performance in the first Tests of the series since January 2014 is splendid — his tally being 1200 in 18 innings (10 Tests) at an average of 80.00 — the best by any batsman since the said period.
# Australia’s Michael Clarke’s 130 off 246 balls at Chennai in February 2013 was the last instance when a visiting batsman had scored a hundred on Indian soil before Root’s century. In the previous 12 Tests, the highest by a visiting batsman was Mitchell Starc’s 99 for Australia at Mohali in March 2013.
# Moeen Ali’s excellent unbeaten innings of 99 is his first fifty in seven Test innings vs India, obliterating his previous highest of 39 at Lord’s in July 2014. The said knock is also his highest score in eleven Test innings in Asia.
# Moeen’s above knock is his highest Test score away from home, surpassing the 68 vs Bangladesh at Chittagong in October 2016.
# Moeen’s performance in Tests in 2016 is superb — his tally being 796 runs at an average of 56.85, including two centuries and five fifties, in 13 Tests.
# Moeen is the 13th batsman to remain unbeaten on 99 at the end of the day’s play. He is the fifth England player to accomplish the feat, joining Jack Hobbs, Wally Hammond, Graeme Hick and Allan Lamb.
# Ali and Root were involved in a stand of 179 — England’s fifth highest partnership for the fourth wicket vs India in India in Tests — the highest being 214 between Paul Collingwood and Andrew Strauss at Chennai in December 2008.
# After winning eight successive tosses at home between November 2013 and October 2016, an Indian captain has lost a toss on Indian soil — vs England at Rajkot in November 2016.
# Haseeb Hameed, at 19 years 297 days old, is the youngest England debutant to open the innings — the previous youngest being Len Hutton, who had opened the innings, at the age of 21 years and 3 days, against New Zealand at Lord’s in 1937.
# In all, Hameed is the fifth youngest England debutant in Tests.
Day 2
# England (537) have recorded their third highest total vs India in Tests in India — the top two being 652 for seven wickets declared at Chennai in January 1985 and 559 for eight wickets declared at Kanpur in February 1964.
# Moeen Ali has recorded his fourth century in Tests — his first against India — his first three were two vs Sri Lanka and one vs Pakistan. His outstanding 117 vs India is his first century in 21 innings (12 Tests) away from home.
# Moeen’s previous highest score in Tests away from home was 68 vs Bangladesh at Chittagong in October 2016.
# Thanks to his century at Rajkot, Moeen’s overseas average in Tests is 26.38 — his tally being 475 in 21 innings.
# Ten England batsmen, including Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes, have registered hundreds vs India in India in their maiden Test.
# Ravindra Jadeja (3/86) has produced his best bowling performance vs England in Tests in India — his second best vs England next only to the 3 for 52 at Southampton in July 2014.
# Jadeja enjoys an outstanding bowling average in Tests in India — his tally being 67 wickets (ave 18.02) in 13 Tests.
# Stuart Broad, for the first time in Tests, has batted as number eleven batsman. Just three other batsmen have batted at this position in their respective 100th Test — Makhaya Ntini, Glenn McGrath and James Anderson.
# Ravichandran Ashwin (46—3—167—2) has conceded 160 runs or more for the third time in a Test innings — his worst being 194 runs vs Australia at Adelaide in January 2012.
# Ben Stokes has produced an outstanding knock of 128 — his first hundred vs India and his fourth in Tests — one each against New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and India — all four centuries as number six batsman.
# Before the Rajkot Test, he had recorded three consecutive ducks in his first three outings vs India in Tests in 2014 — 0 at Nottingham and a PAIR — 0 & 0 at Lord’s.
# Jonny Bairstow has amassed 1164 runs at an average of 64.66 in 13 Tests (21 innings), including three centuries and five fifties, extending his record for most runs by a wicketkeeper in a calendar year in Tests.
# Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower and Bairstow are the only wicketkeepers to have accomplished the feat of recording 1000 runs in a calendar year in Tests. Flower had scored 1045 (ave 80.38) in 16 Test innings in 2000.
# Root, Moeen Ali and Stokes have provided the tenth instance when three players from a visiting side have recorded centuries in the same Test innings in India.
# The last instance for England batsmen scoring three hundreds in the same Test innings was vs Sri Lanka at Cardiff in May 2011 — Cook (133), Trott (203) and Bell (103 not out).
