As India registered a truly comprehensive victory against Sri Lanka in the second Test match in the 3-match series, there was a lot to look forward to in the stats column. This was India’s 32nd international win in 2017, the most for the team in a calendar year, surpassing the 31 wins in 2016.
Here’s a look at the records that were broken.
1. Highest Margin Of Victory Vis-A-Vis Defeat
India won this match by an innings and 239 runs – the highest margin of victory for the team in Test cricket, at par with its win against Bangladesh in Mirpur in 2007. On the other hand, it was the worst defeat for Sri Lanka overtaking its innings and 229 run loss against South Africa in Cape Town in 2001.
This is the third time that four tons have been scored by India in a single innings – the previous instances being against South Africa in Kolkata in 2010 and against Bangladesh in 2007 in Mirpur.
2. Kohli Surpasses Bradman
Captain Kohli has been on fire in this series, as he completed his 19th Test match century – the 51st in his international cricket career. His 213 at the VCA Stadium was his fifth double ton as captain – by virtue of which he retained his number five spot in the recent ICC Test Cricket rankings for batsmen.
Kohli now shares the record of most double centuries as a captain with the legendary West Indian, Brian Lara. He has already gone past the likes of Don Bradman, Michael Clarke and Graeme Smith, all of whom have four double centuries each as captain.
Kohli has a staggering conversion rate of 75%, when it comes to scoring tons in Test matches. In Test cricket, he has already scored 12 centuries and 16+ fifties as a captain. He may not have been able to score big centuries in his early days, but as he has grown into Test cricket, he seems to have gradually mastered the art of cashing in on starts.
Kohli has scored 10 centuries in all formats in this calendar year – thereby surpassing former Australian captain, Ricky Ponting and former South African skipper, Graeme Smith, each of whom have nine centuries apiece, in a calendar year.
3. Pujara Eyes The Number 1 Spot In Test Rankings
After his characteristic knock of 143 in Nagpur, Cheteshwar Pujara has regained his number two ranking as a batsman in the latest ICC Test Cricket rankings. The persevering batsman jumped two spots from number four, after gaining 22 points. He now sits in the second spot with a total of 888 points.
However, Pujara still remains far behind Australian captain, Steve Smith, who strengthened his number one spot by gaining five points after the first Ashes Test match. The Aussie, after his unbeaten 141-run knock, is comfortably placed at the top with 941 points.
4. Artistic Ashwin
As the final delivery of the Nagpur Test match gently brushed the outer half of Gamage’s off-stump, R Ashwin became the fastest bowler to reach the milestone of taking 300 wickets. The lanky off-spinner has achieved this feat in 54 matches, thus breaking Denis Lillee’s record of reaching the same in 56 matches.
Ashwin also became the sixth Indian to cross the 500-wicket mark in international cricket. In this very match, he picked up his 50th wicket in 2017 as well.
Ashwin also achieved a unique feat as he dismissed Lahiru Thirimanne for the 12th time (six times in ODIs, five times in Tests, once in T20s) in all formats combined. This is the maximum number of times that Ashwin has dismissed any batsman.
5. Against The Tide
The Nagpur Test match brought bittersweet memories for the Lankan opener, Dimuth Karunaratne. His disappointment of receiving a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Indians may have been assuaged a little, as he became the second batsman after Dean Elgar to score 1000 runs or more in 2017. Karunaratne achieved this distinction in 23 innings as compared to Elgar’s 1097 runs in 20 innings.
A version of this post was first published here.
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