Cliff Notes – West Indies hit new batting lows in Ahmedabad
- India secured a dominant victory by an innings and 140 runs, marking their third-largest win against West Indies, with four innings victories in their last five Tests on home soil.
- Ravindra Jadeja’s performance included an unbeaten 104 and four wickets, earning him his 11th Player-of-the-Match award, equalling Rahul Dravid’s record.
- West Indies managed only 308 runs across both innings, their second-lowest total against India in a defeat, reflecting a dismal batting average of 15.60 this year.
Stats – West Indies hit new batting lows in Ahmedabad
India bowled out West Indies in the second innings in 45.1 overs, wrapping the Ahmedabad Test in only two and a half days after declaring on 448 for 5. It was a one-sided contest that underlined India’s supremacy and West Indies’ batting woes. Here are the most significant numbers from the first Test.
An innings and 140 runs – India’s massive victory margin in the Ahmedabad Test is their third-biggest against West Indies. They beat West Indies by an innings and 141 runs in Dominica in 2023 and by an innings and 272 runs in the Rajkot Test in 2018.
India’s last five Tests against West Indies in India include four innings victories for the hosts and a 10-wicket win (Hyderabad, 2018).
4 – Number of times Ravindra Jadeja has scored a hundred alongside taking a four-wicket haul in the same Test. He leveled with Garfield Sobers and his long-time spin-bowling partner R Ashwin, in terms of achieving this feat most times. Only Ian Botham is ahead with five such instances.
Jadeja was wicketless in the first innings but scored an unbeaten 104 and picked four wickets for 54 runs in the second innings. His performance also earned him his 11th Player-of-the-Match award in Test cricket. He equalled Rahul Dravid, with only Sachin Tendulkar (14) ahead on this list.
10 – Number of hundreds for KL Rahul as an opener for India. He went past Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma, who have nine Test tons each as openers. Only M Vijay, Virender Sehwag and Sunil Gavaskar are ahead of him.
KL Rahul climbed up the ranks ESPNcricinfo Ltd
It was also only Rahul’s second Test hundred at home, after his 199 against England in Chennai in 2016. His wait of 3212 days is the longest between two home Test tons for an Indian batter. Previously, Mohinder Amarnath had to wait for 2885 days between 1979 and 1986.
1746 – Number of balls Jasprit Bumrah took to complete 50 Test wickets in India. Among the 30 bowlers to achieve this feat, Bumrah is the fastest in terms of number of balls bowled. He surpassed Mohammed Shami (2267 deliveries) and Harbhajan Singh (2272) by a margin of more than 500 balls. Bumrah has the best bowling strike rate (35.8) and bowling average (17.32) in this club.
89.2 – The least number of overs batted by West Indies in a Test against India where they have been bowled out twice. They batted 44.1 overs in the first innings and 45.1 overs in the second. Their previous worst came in their last Test tour of India where they could last only 98.5 overs across both innings in the Rajkot Test in 2018.
West Indies have batted 12 times in Test cricket this year, out of which they have failed to last 50 overs on eight occasions.
308 – The number of runs West Indies managed across both innings, the second lowest for them against India in a defeat.
West Indies have a batting average of 15.60 this year, the lowest among the 12 Full Member nations. Zimbabwe, the second lowest in the table is over five runs/wicket better than West Indies – 20.87.
Across Test history, only New Zealand in 1958 had a worse batting average (12.65) among nations that played at least five Tests in a calendar year. West Indies have been bowled out under 300 eight times this year, the most such instances for a Test team in a calendar year.