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Vote for the best individual Border-Gavaskar Trophy performance by an Indian in Australia since 2000

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Oct-2024Update: This poll has ended. Rahul Dravid’s performance goes into the semi-finals. Check the other polls here.ESPNcricinfo LtdRahul Dravid celebrates a famous win at Adelaide Oval in 2003•AFP via Getty Images

Rahul Dravid – 233 and 72* in Adelaide, 2003

India win by four wickets, lead series 1-0Long before Rahul Dravid was immortalised for revealing that he too had the ability to yell his head off, he was immortalised for having the ability to yell his head off and also punch the air. The image of him doing so as he hit the winning runs in Adelaide almost 20 years ago is part of Indian cricket history. It was only the fourth time they had ever won a Test match in Australia – and their first victory since 1981 – and they had to come from behind to do it. From way behind, 556 runs to be exact. But Dravid kept whittling away at it, wearing Australia down not once but twice. Finally, after 12 and a half hours at the crease, scoring more runs than he has ever done or will ever do in a single Test, it made perfect sense that he would be there at the end, soaking in the Adelaide sunshine, teeth gritted, arms up high, the personification of triumph.Dravid’s heroics in that match gave India a 1-0 lead, in a series they went on to draw in Australia for the first time since 1985.By Alagappan MuthuWatch the highlights of these performances on the Star Sports network at 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm IST, from October 30 onwards.Sachin Tendulkar celebrates his double-century at the SCG in 2004•William West/AFP via Getty Images

Sachin Tendulkar – 241* & 60* in Sydney, 2004

Match drawn, series drawn 1-1Sachin Tendulkar’s form with the series level 1-1 hadn’t been reassuring. His cover driving had caused three dismissals in the first three Tests, and he was determined not to fall for the bait at the SCG. His 241* in the first innings – his highest Test score at the time – was a remarkable example of his discipline and ability to find a way.Tendulkar did not play the cover drive, even when the Australian bowlers offered easy temptation, and entirely cut out a faulty part of his game. He batted for more than ten hours and helped India amass 705, shutting down Australia’s hopes of a series win. His unbeaten 60 off 89 balls in the second innings was compiled with more freedom, as India pushed towards a declaration. However, a setting a target of 443 left them with too little time to take ten wickets and achieve what would have been a historic series win.By Shashank Kishore

There was physical courage, there were technical tweaks, and nothing really worked. But the final act showed not all was lost

Alagappan Muthu03-Jan-2025The old saying only mentions sticks and stones. Rishabh Pant might want it amended to include leather as well. He had a big red welt on his left arm where a back-of-a-length ball from Mitchell Starc had reared up off the Sydney pitch to strike him flush.Thanks to his heroics on his last Border-Gavaskar tour, this one began with a lot of focus on him. Even otherwise, with the pitches in Australia getting spicier and the new Kookaburra ball making life more difficult for the top order, the impact of players like Pant and Travis Head, coming down the order, always had the potential to change the course of Test matches.Related

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The conversation around Pant began to shift, though. The risks that he takes to play those unorthodox shots had begun to catch up with him. His scoop in the first innings in Melbourne, where he was trying to pick out the gap at fine leg – he got hit on his body the first time he tried it and was caught at deep third the very next ball when he went for it again – came in for a lot of criticism. Being dismissed by a part-time bowler in the second innings, when India were trying to save the Test, took that discourse to a whole other level. There were other batters not doing their job as well but his wicket was singled out.With that as the backdrop, Pant walked in in Sydney and spent 98 balls being someone else. There were still glimpses of his disdain for that red ball. In the 43rd over, he helicoptered a cut shot. Those usually involve back and across movements. But he couldn’t be bothered. He just trusted his hand-eye coordination and then, at the point of contact, let his wrists go for a whirl, and the ball skipped away behind point. Under normal circumstances, that’s what a Pant highlights reel would be all about.An exchange with Steven Smith, caught on the stump mic, didn’t end well for Shubman Gill•Getty ImagesThese weren’t normal circumstances. His application had come under question. During optional training, reserve wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel had a long net, large parts of it right alongside Pant, and he looked quite good. It took a while for Pant to become a regular in India’s Test team – largely because his keeping needed to improve; his batting was already there – and since then he’s been among the first names on the sheet. Melbourne cast doubt over his temperament. Sydney almost became the scene of his redemption. He took so many body blows. Two back-to-back in the gut. Then another in the gut which left him winded enough he went down to the floor. One right on the side of the helmet, which looked awful. He tried to get out of the way but that bouncer just kept following him. Starc looked extremely concerned and wouldn’t leave Pant’s side until he got a nod of the head from the batter.”I think this is the first time I’ve gotten hit so much,” Pant said, “But you know in cricket you can’t plan anything, so everything happened for the first time for sure at some point of time in your career, but that was me today.”India were showing bravery. They were trying to correct their mistakes. Virat Kohli abandoned his open stance to be more side-on, which in theory would reduce the chances of him playing away from his body because his alignment was putting his front shoulder closer to balls outside off stump. They tried to rely on their defensive skills. Ravindra Jadeja tried to leave as many as he could. They tried to play the situation and ignore their natural instincts.As much as they did all this, though, they seemed to gain little. They still collapsed from 57 for 2 to 148 for 8. The only difference was, it was a slow-burn collapse spread out across 41 overs. It’s back to their bowlers to bail India out, and it is possible that they could. There are frailties in the Australian batting order and the pitch is offering plenty of help.It was edged and taken yet again for Virat Kohli•Getty Images”I feel it was a little tough pitch,” Pant said. He believed India’s 181 was not quite a par score but was close to it. “The ball was doing off the wicket quite a bit especially after the end of second session I would say.”India did expect batting to be difficult when they won the toss and chose to put a total on the board. What they didn’t expect was the consistency of movement and the extra bounce. It gave them zero breathers. When they tried to manufacture shots, it backfired.Shubman Gill wanted to make sure it was the last ball before lunch so he went down to do some gardening. Steven Smith at slip saw that and said, “This is bull****. Oi, let’s play”. Gill turned around and replied, “You take your time, Smithy, nobody says anything to you.” Then he faced up to Nathan Lyon and got caught by Smith at slip. Kohli’s side-on stance seemed to be helping until once again Scott Boland produced a ball that he nicked.India went to stumps in a rage. The penultimate ball of the day sparked a confrontation. Usman Khawaja asked Jasprit Bumrah to wait. Sam Konstas got involved with a couple of words from the non-strikers’ end. Bumrah didn’t like it. The two of them had to be separated by the umpires. The last ball of the day produced a wicket. Khawaja was out caught, and Bumrah whipped around and walked towards Konstas. He knew he couldn’t get in his face. He held his emotions in check and then vented them when Konstas walked off. Veins popping. India haven’t been a happy team on this tour. They’ve felt antagonised. They had come to Sydney damned for all that they did. Sydney damned them when they didn’t, too. That last ball wicket, though, felt powerful. All 11 players ran up to their captain bristling with life once more.

Pat Cummins joined the list when he went 6, 6, 6 against Shardul Thakur in Hyderabad in IPL 2025

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Mar-2025Pat Cummins vs LSG, 2025
Cummins walked out to bat at the end of the 16th over with SRH 156 for 6. He got on strike in the next over, and hit back-to-back sixes off Shardul Thakur’s last two balls to get going. The first ball was short and wide, which he thrashed over point before dumping a juicy full toss over the sight-screen next ball. He faced his third ball in the next over, off Avesh Khan, and deposited the length ball straight down the ground again. He was dismissed next ball, steering one to short third, for a four-ball 18.MS Dhoni vs Mumbai Indians (MI), 2024
Wankhede roared as MS Dhoni made his way to the middle with just four balls left in the innings against MI. They got their money’s worth when he showed no mercy to MI captain Hardik Pandya. He started by clobbering a length ball over long-off, much to the delight of the “away” crowd. The next ball was again on a length, which Dhoni deposited over long-on. Hardik next went for the yorker but dished out a low full toss that was flicked over deep square-leg. Dhoni finished unbeaten on 20 off four with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) winning the game by that exact margin.MS Dhoni hit three sixes off his first three balls against MI in IPL 2024•BCCINicholas Pooran vs SRH, 2023
Nicholas Pooran found himself in the middle with LSG needing 56 off 27 in a chase of 183. Abhishek Sharma had just broken a 43-ball 73-run partnership by dismissing Marcus Stoinis. It mattered little for Pooran, who slog-swept the left-arm spinner over deep midwicket to open his account. The next ball was full, and he powered it straight over the bowler’s head. The third ball – the last of the over – was also full and Pooran got down on his knees to bash it over deep midwicket. In all, five sixes were hit in that over – Stoinis had hit two earlier.Sunil Narine vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), 2021
In the eliminator of IPL 2021 in Sharjah, Sunil Narine went out at No. 5 when Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) needed just 60 off 54 balls. He hit three successive sixes off Dan Christian to set about his task of injecting momentum to the close. Two of his sixes came to the shorter leg side – first a pull over fine leg against a short ball and then a slog over midwicket to a full ball on his pads. When Christian provided him the width on his third ball, he powered a one-handed six over long-off. Narine had earlier picked up a four-wicket haul to restrict RCB, and his 15-ball 26 ended Virat Kohli’s tenure as captain in the IPL.

India await in second assignment of women’s summer, but new head coach likes what she’s seen so far

Valkerie Baynes08-Jun-2025England Women can expect a tougher test of their new set-up when India arrive later this month, after West Indies’ tour ended in 3-0 sweeps of both T20I and ODI series.Such results don’t appear to be optimal preparation for the world’s No.2 ODI side to take on third-ranked rivals and World Cup hosts India. However, they provided a confidence boost after the nadir of six months ago, and allowed the hosts to experiment, gleaning some valuable insights in the process.It turns out the solution to their top-order conundrum in the 50-over format had been staring them in the face all along. England’s depth of talent has so often been boasted about as a welcome product of the professionalisation of the domestic women’s game, but by bringing that to the fore rather than leaving it in the background amid a reluctance to tinker, they have strengthened their batting and bowling options.”We are under no illusions that we are going to have tougher times ahead,” Charlotte Edwards, England’s new head coach, said on Saturday. “But equally, what we are seeing already is that appetite for people to want to keep getting better too – they can’t stand still because there’s someone probably in county cricket now scoring runs who’s winning games of cricket.”Reuniting Amy Jones and Tammy Beaumont as openers after five years was hugely successful, with both scoring back-to-back centuries in twin partnerships worth more than 200 each across the first two games. So too was the introduction of Linsey Smith and Em Arlott to the ODI bowling ranks.So much so that, in the third and final ODI in Taunton on Saturday, Jones dropped back to the middle order (where she wasn’t required) and Beaumont was rested along with Smith, coincidentally just as it was announced that fellow left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone would take a wellbeing break with a view to feeling ready to take on India.Charlotte Edwards wants to be able to pick from a pool of 25 players for every England match•Getty ImagesArlott, who made her international debut during the T20I leg of the tour and was rested for the second ODI, returned with devastating effect on Saturday, taking two wickets for one run in the space of six balls as West Indies lurched to 3 for 4 inside four overs.Meanwhile, Sarah Glenn made her first appearance of the series in Taunton and took 3 for 21 after a five-hour rain delay to help contain West Indies to 106 for 8 from 21 overs. She was subsequently named player of the match as England cruised to a nine-wicket victory with Nat Sciver-Brunt scoring an unbeaten 57 opening alongside Sophia Dunkley.Emma Lamb, who like Arlott and Smith had been called up after dominating the start of the domestic 50-over competition, scored a quick-fire 55 in the second ODI before making way for Alice Capsey to move up to No. 3 and score 20 not out.Of course England had the luxury to try just about anything against an already under-strength West Indies who travelled without injured big hitters Chinelle Henry and Deandra Dottin and were further depleted when star allrounder and captain Hayley Matthews succumbed to a shoulder problem. Matthews had been player of the T20I series, despite her side failing to win a match but was ruled out of the second and third ODIs after aggravating the injury while fielding in the first in Derby.Related

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But the fact that the third ODI amounted to batting practice for England’s regular middle-order, who had up to that point been under-used, and that a re-jigged bowling line-up got their job done illustrated that their desired competition for places has arrived – something not present for the failed T20 World Cup and Ashes campaigns.”It is going to be difficult to pick teams moving forward,” Edwards added, “but that’s the place we wanted to be and we don’t want to be picking from 15 or 16 players. We want to be picking from a pool of 25 players, which I genuinely think we are now. We’ve probably got there quicker than I thought we would.”A significant factor has been Edwards’ insistence on England-contracted players playing domestic cricket in the lead-up to the West Indies series.While some will rest ahead of India’s arrival, others were set to leave the ODI squad and rejoin their domestic teams for the Vitality Blast as early as Sunday.”There’s a group of fast bowlers now really vying for a few spots,” Edwards added. “I don’t think we’ve had that, probably in the last five years, in terms of about five or six bowlers who could all open the bowling for England. And a really good group of batters who are really pushing each other to get better and better, which I think is a really healthy place to be in as a team. It makes it harder for us now to select teams, but equally more exciting for us moving forward.”England play five T20Is against India starting at Trent Bridge on June 28, followed by three ODIs. And while Edwards admitted that, with this year’s World Cup in mind, she would have preferred to have played more ODIs, England will host the T20 World Cup in a year’s time.”That’s why we played around with the team a little bit today,” she said. “But equally, we understand that the T20 format is a format that, for next summer is really important as well, so we’ll manage that.Linsey Smith took her chances after a long period out of the selectors’ thoughts•ECB via Getty Images”We absolutely know that, in a couple of weeks’ time at Trent Bridge, that’s going to be tough. They’re one of the best teams in the world, they’ve got some of the best players, so we’re going to have to be right on it when we get to the 28th of June. But we’ve taken a lot of confidence from this and that’s the most important thing. We can only play what’s in front of us and we’ll look to do that again when we play against India.”West Indies failed to qualify for the 50-over World Cup immediately before heading to England. That they couldn’t put up more of a fight in the T20Is, despite knocking England out of that World Cup last October, was unsurprising given their over-reliance on Matthews.There were some small highlights for West Indies, who will return home to host South Africa in the first of three ODIs starting on Wednesday, then three T20Is.At just 20 years of age, Realeanna Grimmond offered cause for optimism with her half-century on ODI debut in the second game in Leicester, as did 21-year-old Jannillea Glasgow with a 24-ball 44. But their development, along with that of teenage quick Jahzara Claxton is a long-term project.Shane Deitz, West Indies head coach, expected to have Henry back to face South Africa and said Matthews’ recovery would be managed through that series, but Dottin remained another month away from full fitness.”We had a chance to bring some players in and that’s what we’re looking for,” Deitz said. “Our season, so to speak, begins in February next year – 2026 is a massive year for us. We’ve got 15 ODIs that obviously go for the next World Cup qualification, a Test match [against Australia] and a World Cup.”What we do over the next eight months off the playing field is going to be the key thing for our performance next year. We’ve got a lot of things we can work on off the field, the team culture and then a lot of fitness and skill work. We’ve got a great opportunity now to play a few games against South Africa and then have a really good off-field programme for seven or eight months, and then come back in 2026 and take on the rest of the world.”

There’s little to be gained for Zimbabwe, but they still agreed to play what felt like a club game from the days before sportainment

Firdose Moonda04-Jun-2025There’s a distinctly Liverpudlian flavour among South Africa’s leadership group. So it’s hardly surprising they’re getting by with a little help from their friends as they prepare for the World Test Championship (WTC) final next week.Head Coach Shukri Conrad, batting coach Ashwell Prince, and captain Temba Bavuma all support the Reds – and are fresh off celebrating their league title win – and the first people they asked to lend them their ears were Zimbabwe, the guys next door.South Africa have not played them since October 2022, and haven’t hosted them since October 2018 or visited them since August-September 2014. But they convinced Zimbabwe to extend their stay in England to play them in a four-day warm-up game in Arundel. There are worse places to be in than the picturesque town in the South Downs – though both South Africa and Zimbabwe are actually based a 40-minute drive away in Portsmouth – and there’s little to be gained for Zimbabwe, apart from some insight into a team they will host later this month. But they’ve still agreed to play.Related

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So understanding have the not-so-noisy-neighbours been that they happily agreed to let South Africa bat first to give their line-up time in the middle, and then promptly even dropped Ryan Rickelton at second slip in the opening exchanges. Rickelton went on to top score with 62. But Zimbabwe weren’t quite as accommodating to Aiden Markram, who flicked 21-year old Alex Falao aerially to Wessly Madhevere at square leg, and departed for 13 off 15 balls.That meant Conrad was forced to show his tactical hand early when it comes to the least certain spot in the side: No. 3. Conrad had initially handed it to Tristan Stubbs in August last year, then let Wiaan Mulder bat there with a broken finger against Sri Lanka in Durban – seemingly because that was his only way of contributing in that match – and has also used Rickelton there briefly.Now that Rickelton has secured the opening berth, one of Stubbs, Mulder or Tony de Zorzi could bat at No. 3 at Lord’s. At Arundel, Mulder was given the spot, which is either an indication of how South Africa will line-up at the final or a bluff.On the evidence of the 49 balls he faced, Mulder appeared a serious candidate, and batted with a good measure of circumspection, especially as Rickelton was in full flow at the other end. Though Mulder looked aggrieved when given out lbw to a Tanaka Chivanga delivery that kept low, he made 26 runs, and was generally solid in defence.Stubbs was in at No. 5, which is a position that seems to suit him. He bedded in, and took 120 balls to score 58, but never appeared to be under pressure. Stubbs may be considered in that spot ahead of de Zorzi, the other batting option in the top five. De Zorzi was initially confused by spin and retired on 28, which indicates his status as a reserve player for the WTC final.Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder during the warm-up•ICC via Getty ImagesSouth Africa would have been most satisfied with the performances of Rickelton, in form across formats and playing attackingly, and Bavuma. This was Bavuma’s first competitive fixture in three months since the Champions Trophy, and he was in good touch. Importantly, Bavuma was able to play the pull and the hook comfortably. Those are shots which require him to extend his elbow fully, and hence he allayed fears that the chronic injury he carries is holding him back.As for Zimbabwe, for much of the day, it looked like they were doing their bit for continental unity, and it has been made easy for them. Their bills have been paid mostly by their hosts (the ECB provided a touring fee for Trent Bridge, and the ICC are paying for this add-on against South Africa). Their coaching staff – Justin Sammons, Charl Langeveldt and Rivash Gobind – are South African, so it has also been explained as something of a patriotic act.”A lot of their support staff have been part of the Proteas set up before, so we’ve got a really good relationship in terms of that,” Conrad told the media after the first day’s play was washed out.Overall, they gave South Africa as decent a challenge as they could on a flat track. Chivanga led the attack with a healthy dose of aggression and returned for spells late in the day, Victor Nyauchi got a hint of bounce, and the spin combination of Wellington Masakadza and Vincent Masekesa asked some questions of technique. More’s the pity that Blessing Muzarabani, their most reputed quick, was unavailable for this match after jetting off to the IPL, where he did not get a game.With heavy rain forecast for all of Thursday and most of Friday, South Africa had to manufacture some time in the field, and declared after 79 overs, with an hour’s play remaining. Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen opened the bowling, and combined to take the first wicket – Brian Bennet caught by Jansen at gully off Rabada – before Lungi Ngidi and Keshav Maharaj took over. Does that mean Ngidi is being thought of ahead of Dane Paterson at Lord’s? It may be too early to tell, given South Africa only bowled 11 overs.

“It would be foolish of me not to tap into whatever IP there is, and he’s current. He was successful against Australia, and knows how to bowl at Lord’s, and the nuances that come with bowling from the respective ends”SA coach Shukri Conrad on getting Stuart Broad on board

The only thing South Africa may not get is a full 90-over day in the field and additional time in the bowler’s legs. But they’ve made another plan for some extra help in that department too. They’ve recruited a former Notts team-mate of Prince’s, who is also an SA20 commentator, in Stuart Broad. He will attend part of their training session on Monday in London, and have dinner with the coaching staff in an evening designed for information exchange. The arrangement is unpaid.”I reached out to Stuart via Ash, because they obviously know each other. And I just said to him, ‘Is there any way we can just get together, spend some time – primarily with the coaches – and then share whatever you’ve got?’,” Conrad said. “He’s coming for dinner with the coaches, and then he’s probably spending an hour or so at our nets.Temba Bavuma was back in action after an elbow injury•ICC via Getty Images”It would be foolish of me not to tap into whatever IP there is, and he’s current. He was successful against Australia, and knows how to bowl at Lord’s, and the nuances that come with bowling from the respective ends.”Conrad also wants to be careful not to overload his team with “too much information”, and remind them that, at its core, cricket is about simplicity. There was nowhere better to do that than Arundel. The Castle Cricket Ground is nestled among greenery, has no big stands, and the only food stall is the quaint Tea Hut. The match was open to members only, and there were just a few hundred people in attendance who could hear every word, ooh and aah being said on the field.It was very much like watching a club match from the days before sportainment, and was as low-key as it can get the week before the highest-profile engagement of this South African Test team’s careers. Zimbabwe will be back home by then, knowing they were the friends who provided a little – or, depending on how things go, perhaps a lot – of help when their neighbours needed them most.

And does Simon Harmer have the most wickets in a series at the lowest average?

Steven Lynch02-Dec-2025Simon Harmer took 17 wickets at less than nine apiece in the recent series in India. Has anyone taken more in a series at a lower average?</B asked Kelvin Phillips from South Africa

The South African offspinner Simon Harmer took 17 wickets at 8.94 in the recent 2-0 victory in India, figures that put him in rarefied company: only six bowlers have taken more wickets at a lower average in a series in which they played at least two Tests – and no one has done it since England’s Tony Lock took 34 wickets at just 7.47 against New Zealand at home in 1958.Lowest of all dates from South Africa’s first-ever Test series, at home in 1888-89: England’s Johnny Briggs took 21 wickets at just 4.80. Seven years later another England bowler, George Lohmann, took advantage of some more inexperienced South Africans to take 35 wickets at 5.80 in a three-match series.No one has taken more wickets at a lower average in any series in India (again playing in a minimum of two Tests): Jasprit Bumrah took ten at 9.00 apiece against Sri Lanka in 2021-22. In third place is Marco Jansen, with 12 at 10.08 in the just-finished series.Aiden Markram took nine catches in the second Test against India. Was this a record for a non-wicketkeeper? asked Tim Vallance from England

South Africa’s Aiden Markram, who was playing in his 50th Test, took nine catches in the demolition of India in Guwahati last week, all of them in the slips (although two required a dive into the gully area). It was a record for an outfielder in a Test, beating the eight of India’s Ajinkya Rahane against Sri Lanka in Galle in 2015. There are also seven cases of seven.Markram’s feat has been bettered only once in first-class cricket: in 1928, the England batter Wally Hammond caught ten in a County Championship match against Surrey at Cheltenham. It was definitely Hammond’s match: he also scored 139 and 143 in a comfortable win. In the next match at the college ground, he took 9 for 23 and 6 for 105 against Worcestershire, and scored 80 in an innings victory.There are two other instances of nine outfield catches in a first-class match: by Warwickshire’s Rikki Clarke against Lancashire in Liverpool in 2011, and Peter Handscomb for Victoria against Tasmania at St Kilda in Melbourne in March 2022.How many England openers have bagged a pair in Australia, as Zak Crawley did in Perth? asked Nick Jones from England

Zak Crawley’s run-less double in the Ashes opener in Perth was only the fourth time an England opener has bagged a pair in a Test in Australia, and the first since Mike Atherton in Melbourne in 1998, in a match England still won. The others were Dennis Amiss, courtesy of Dennis Lillee in Adelaide in 1975, and Trevor Bailey, dismissed twice by Ray Lindwall in what turned out to be his last Test, in Melbourne in 1959.Overall there have been just nine cases of an England opener bagging a pair in a Test, two of them by the unfortunate Atherton.Michael Atherton is the only England opener to have bagged a pair twice in Tests•Clive Mason/PA PhotosIndia have lost five home Tests in a row. When was the last time this happened? asked Maneck Bholl from India

Well, first of all India haven’t lost five in a row: in between the 3-0 defeat by New Zealand last season and the recent 2-0 reverse at South Africa’s hands, they overpowered West Indies in two Tests in Ahmedabad and Delhi in October. In fact India have never lost five in a row at home: their worst run is three, against New Zealand at the end of last year, England in 1976-77, Australia (two in 1969-70) and England (one in 1972-73), and West Indies in 1958-59.Away from home India lost seven consecutive Tests in England in 1967 and Australia in 1967-68. They lost six in a row in 1959, including a 5-0 defeat in England (England’s only such whitewash). Recent successes mean India have now won 185 of their 598 Tests, with 188 defeats to go with 224 draws (plus one tie).In a recent one-day international against Sri Lanka, Pakistan delivered 26 wides but still won. Was this a record? asked Fahad Ali

The match you’re talking about was the first ODI in Rawalpindi last month: despite conceding 26 in wides, Pakistan won by six runs in the end. It’s actually not a record: Australia beat New Zealand in Pune in 2003 despite donating 32 runs in wides, as did the United Arab Emirates against Papua New Guinea in Windhoek in 2023. There’s also two cases of winning despite conceding 31 wides: by India against Kenya in Bristol during the 1999 World Cup, and Pakistan against India in Mohali in 2007.There are some higher numbers in women’s ODIs: in three matches in 2001, the Netherlands conceded 56, 52 and 45 wides against Pakistan – but won all three games. At Merrion in Dublin in 2004, New Zealand gave away 43 runs in wides, but still beat Ireland; and in Dambulla in 2016, Australia defeated Sri Lanka despite conceding 41 wides.And there’s some updates to a recent question about umpires’ early decisions, from Charles Davis in Australia and Ashru Mitra in India:

There are a few refinements to the list of those who had to give a batter out from their first ball in a Test, as mentioned in this recent column. The man who gave Herbert Sutcliffe out from the first ball of England’s Test against New Zealand in Christchurch in March 1933 was Richard Torrance. His colleague was Thomas Burgess, also standing in his first Test, and from the first ball at his end Eddie Paynter was bowled.There was a curious incident in Port-of-Spain in March 1971, when the West Indian opener Roy Fredericks was dismissed by the first ball of the match, from India’s Abid Ali. The debutant umpire Stuart Ishmael gave Fredericks out lbw, but then noticed the bails had been dislodged, so he was recorded as bowled.Finally the umpire in the South Africa-India Test in Durban in November 1992 was Cyril Mitchley, not Karl Liebenberg: they were alternating on the field (partnering Steve Bucknor) in what was South Africa’s first home Test for nearly 23 years. Jimmy Cook edged Kapil Dev’s first ball of the match into the slips, where Sachin Tendulkar took a catch. It seems, from Cook’s own account, that although Mitchley was at square leg he did have to rule on whether the ball had hit the ground before it reached Tendulkar: to Cook’s horror, he decided it had not.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions