Australia’s decline and a fitting reply by Younis

With India’s home Test series against West Indies abruptly called off, the focus shifted to the Test matches being played elsewhere. The Tests pitting Pakistan against Australia and Bangladesh against Zimbabwe had some exciting cricket played in Dubai and Mirpur respectively. Pakistan, with a seemingly depleted and inexperienced bowling attack, pulled off an empathic win thanks to the cushion of big runs provided by their batsmen. Bangladesh huffed and puffed to their fifth Test win, despite a heroic attempt by Zimbabwe to defend a very modest fourth innings target.

Between them, Pakistan’s bowlers had just 66 Test wickets before the start of the match in Dubai, while the Australian bowlers boasted of 610 collective wickets. Pakistan were also without Saeed Ajmal, their most successful bowler at present, but still managed to beat their more fancied opponents quite convincingly.

Australia have now lost their last five Tests in Asia, and have been beaten in nine of their last 14 Tests in the continent, while managing just a single win. Their performance is by far the worst of any visiting side to Asia from January 1, 2008. It is interesting to note that apart from the losses in Chennai and Kolkata in early 2001, the great Australian side of the 2000s had a great run in the subcontinent between 2001 and 2006. In 12 Tests from October 2002 to April 2006 they won 10, lost one and drew one. Their only loss came at Mumbai in a low scoring encounter in November 2004, while earlier in the series, one Test was drawn at Chennai with rain washing out play on the final day. With some luck, the Aussies could have won these games too. However, nothing seems to have gone right for the Australian sides since their next tour of the subcontinent in October 2008.

Perhaps the retirement of many greats coincided with their decline. The tables below provide proof of this fact.

Performance of visiting Test teams in the subcontinent (including in the UAE) from January 1, 2008

 

The two phases of Australia’s Test performance in the subcontinent (including in the UAE) 

Visiting team	Matches	Won	Lost	Drawn	% Win
South Africa	13	6	3	4	46.15
England	13	5	6	2	38.46
West Indies	12	3	4	5	25.00
New Zealand	13	2	6	5	15.38
Australia	14	1	9	4	7.69
Zimbabwe	1	0	1	0	0.00

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Meanwhile, Younis Khan made an emphatic return to the Pakistan team after being dropped from the ODI squad, hitting twin centuries (106 and 103 not out) in the Dubai victory. This was the first time in 40 years that a batsman had made centuries in both innings of a Test against Australia, with Glenn Turner, the New Zealand batsman, the last to achieve the feat. Turner hit 101 and 110 not out at Dunedin, way back in March 1974.

What was more significant was that Younis’s second hundred was the 26^th of his Test career, which put him at the top of the list for Pakistan. He went past the previous mark of 25 centuries by Inzamam-ul-Haq, who held the record since November 2005 when he went past Javed Miandad’s tally of 23 centuries.

The table below provides details of the Pakistan’s highest century-makers since Nazar Mohammad made Pakistan’s first ever Test hundred on October 25, 1952. By a strange coincidence, Younis too created the record exactly 62 years later on the very same day.

Progressive record holders for Pakistan’s highest century-makers in Tests

	Matches	Won	Loss	Drawn	% Win
From Oct 2002 to April 2006	12	10	1	1	83.33
From 2008 to present	14	1	9	4	7.69

 

Note: Interestingly, Miandad, Inzamam and Younis reached their record-breaking 100 in the second innings after making one in the first innings

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For some time now, Misbah-ul-Haq has been the oldest Test captain around. Before him England’s Graham Gooch was the last Test captain aged 40-plus, when he led England for the last time at Leeds in the 1993 Ashes series. The Test win at Dubai meant that Misbah, at 40years and 151 days, became the second oldest to lead a side to a Test win against Australia. The oldest, by some margin, is WG Grace, who was 48 when he led his side to a 66-run win at the Oval way back in August 1896. The table below has a list of all 40-plus winning Test captains against Australia.

Oldest Test captains to win a Test against Australia

Batsman	100 No.	Score	Opponent	Venue	Date	Test No.	Result	Record held
Nazar Mohammad	1st	124*	India	Lucknow	Oct 25, 1952	#2	Won	3y-16d
Hanif Mohammad	2nd	103	New Zealand	Dacca	Nov 11, 1955	#17	Drawn	29y-17d
Javed Miandad	13th	103*	New Zealand	Hyderabad Pak	Nov 29, 1984	#147	Won	20y-11m-25d
Inzamam-ul-Haq	24th	100*	England	Faisalabad	Nov 24, 2005	#314	Drawn	8y-11m
Younis Khan	26th	103*	Australia	Dubai	Oct 25, 2014	#383	Won	4 days+

 

Note: The youngest captain to do so is Sachin Tendulkar at 23 years and 172 days in Delhi on October 13, 1996 (won by seven wickets)

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Taijul Islam, the 22-year-old Bangladesh left-arm spinner, had plenty of reason to celebrate in his side’s narrow three-wicket win over Zimbabwe at Mirpur in the first Test. Playing only his third Test, Taijul not only hit the winning runs, but also took eight Zimbabwe wickets, becoming the first Bangladesh bowler to claim eight wickets in a Test innings. Interestingly, just last month, another left-arm spinner had done well in Bangladesh, with Saqlain Sajib claiming 9 for 82 for Bangladesh A against Zimbabwe A at Cox Bazar, which is now the best ever bowling performance by any Bangladesh player in first-class cricket. Now, a month later, comes Taijul Islam’s feat in a Test match.

The table below has the details of how Bangladesh’s best bowling figures in a Test innings have progressed since Naimur Rahman, the captain, took 6 for 132 with his off-spin in their inaugural Test match in Dhaka in November 2000.

Progressive record holders for the best bowling figures for Bangladesh

Captain	Age	For	Venue	Date	Result
WG Grace	48y-25d	England	The Oval	Aug 12, 1896	Won by 66 runs
Misbah-ul-Haq	40y-151d	Pakistan	Dubai	Oct 25, 2014	Won by 221 runs
CB Fry	40y-119d	England	The Oval	Aug 22, 1912	Won by 244 runs
Clive Lloyd	40y-102d	West Indies	Adelaide	Dec 11, 1984	Won by 191 runs
Freddie Brown	40y-74d	England	Melbourne	Feb 28, 1951	Won by 8 wkts
Ray Illingworth	40y-51d	England	Leeds	Jul 29, 1972	Won by 9 wkts

 

Note:
Enamul Haque jr held the record totally for 3 years – 9 months – 8 days
Only on two occasions, was the record was bettered in successive Test matches
ROB – Right arm off-break; LM – Left arm medium pace; LAS – Left arm slow

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Yasir Shah, who took 7 for 116 in Pakistan’s win at Dubai, returned the best bowling performance by a Pakistan legspinner on Test debut. He bettered the previous best of 5 for 101 by Shahid Afridi, which also came against Australia, but was in Karachi in October 1998. Shah’s tally is the third best match analysis by a Pakistan spinner on Test debut. The two tables below have all the details.

Most wickets on Test debut by a legspinner

Bowler	Bowl	Type	Opponent	Venue	Date	Ban Test#	Result	Record held
Naimur Rahman	6/132	ROB	India	Dhaka	Nov 13, 2000	#1	Lost	5m-7d
Manjural Islam	6/81	LM	Zimbabwe	Bulawayo	Apr 21, 2001	#2	Lost	2y-10d
Mohd Rafique	6/77	LAS	South Africa	Dhaka	May 2, 2003	#19	Lost	1y-8m-7d
Enamul Haque jr	6/45	LAS	Zimbabwe	Chittagong MAA	Jan 10, 2005	#35	Won	5 days
Enamul Haque jr	7/95	LAS	Zimbabwe	Dhaka	Jan 15, 2005	#36	Drawn	3y-9m-3d
Shakib Al Hasan	7/36	LAS	New Zealand	Chittagong DS	Oct 19, 2008	#54	Lost	6y-9d
Taijul Islam	8/39	LAS	Zimbabwe	Mirpur	Oct 27, 2014	#86	Won	1 day+

Note: It was Marriott’s and Carr’s only Test match

 

Most wickets in a Test match on debut by a Pakistan spinner

Bowler	Match Figures	Team	Opposition	Venue	Month, Year	1st Innings	2nd Innings	Result
Narendra Hirwani	16/136	Ind	WI	Chennai	Jan 1988	8/61	8/75	Won
Clarrie Grimmett	11/82	Aus	Eng	Sydney	Mar 1925	5/45	6/37	Won
Charles Marriott	11/96	Eng	WI	The Oval	Aug 1933	5/37	6/59	Won
Willaim Cooper	9/200	Aus	Eng	Melbourne	Jan 1882	3/80	6/120	Drawn
“Ranji” Hordern	8/105	Aus	SA	Melbourne	Feb 1911	3/39	5/66	Won
Frank Ward	8/240	Aus	Eng	Brisbane	Dec 1936	2/138	6/102	Lost
Len Braund	7/101	Eng	Aus	Sydney	Dec 1901	2/40	5/61	Won
Amit Mishra	7/106	Ind	Aus	Mohali	Oct 2008	5/71	2/35	Won
Yasir Shah	7/116	Pak	Aus	Dubai	Oct 2014	3/66	4/50	Won
Vaman Kumar	7/132	Ind	Pak	Delhi	Feb 1961	5/64	2/68	Drawn
Ian Smith	7/189	SA	Eng	Nottingham	Jun 1947	3/46	4/143	Drawn
Douglas Carr	7/282	Eng	Aus	The Oval	Aug 1909	5/146	2/136	Drawn

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Bangladesh made heavy weather of a seemingly small target of 101 set by Zimbabwe at Mirpur. In the history of Test cricket only two other teams (England in 1890 and Pakistan in 1984) have lost seven or more wickets while chasing smaller targets. The table below has the details of teams losing seven or more wickets while chasing a target of less than 130.

 

Test teams losing seven or more wickets while successfully chasing targets less than 130 runs

Bowler	Match Figures	Opposition	Venue	Season	1st Innings	2nd Innings	Result
Abdur Rehman	8/210	SA	Karachi	Oct 2007	4/105	4/105	Lost
Mohammad Nazir	7/114	NZ	Karachi	Oct 1969	7/99	0/15	Drawn
Yasir Shah	7/116	Aus	Dubai	Oct 2014	3/66	4/50	Won
Tauseef Ahmed	7/126	Aus	Karachi	Mar 1980	4/64	3/62	Won
Shahid Afridi	5/101	Aus	Karachi	Oct 1998	5/52	0/49	Drawn
Saeed Ajmal	5/113	SL	Galle	Jul 2009	2/79	3/34	Lost
Zulfiqar Babar	5/140	SA	Abu Dhabi	Oct 2013	3/89	2/51	Won

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Postscript:

In my previous column, I had made a mention of Hashim Amla, and spoken of how he is in line to break all records for batsmen taking the fewest innings for ODI hundreds. A few days later, Amla hit his 16^th ODI century in New Zealand, once again relegating Virat Kohli to second position as detailed in the list below.
Fewest innings to 16 ODI centuries

Winning side	Losing side	Runs	Wkts	Venue	Date	Date
New Zealand	West Indies	104	9	Dunedin	Feb 13, 1980	5
England	Australia	95	8	The Oval	Aug 12, 1890	2
England	South Africa	128	8	Durban	Dec 20, 1948	4
Pakistan	England	66	7	Karachi	Mar 6, 1984	4
Bangladesh	Zimbabwe	101	7	Mirpur	Oct 27, 2014	3
South Africa	Sri Lanka	124	7	Centurion	Nov 19, 2002	5
Australia	England	125	7	Manchester	Jul 18, 1896	3
India	West Indies	125	7	Chennai	Jan 16, 1979	4
England	Australia	129	7	Nottingham	Aug 28, 2005	4

* also appeared for other teams

Note: Sri Lankan’s Mahela Jayawardene (371), Kumar Sangkkara (327) and Santh Jayasuriya (280) took the maximum innings to reach their 16^th ODI century.

Australia’s decline and a fitting reply by Younis

Batsman	Team	M	Inn	NO	Runs	Ave	S/R	HS	(50-99)	0s	90s
Hashim Amla	SA	97	94	7	4778	54.92	88.70	150	25	2	5
Virat Kohli	Ind	115	110	17	4736	50.92	87.43	183	25	7	2
Sourav Ganguly	Ind	156	151	13	6208	44.99	73.65	183	34	5	3
AB de Villiers	SA*	159	153	25	6331	49.46	93.85	146	36	6	4
Desmond Haynes	WI	169	168	22	6338	43.41	64.07	152*	35	5	1
Saeed Anwar	Pak	178	176	14	6412	39.58	83.59	194	30	11	3
Chris Gayle	WI*	186	181	13	6616	39.38	80.81	153*	37	16	4
Herschelle Gibbs	SA	185	184	13	6117	35.77	82.06	175	25	18	3
Sachin Tendulkar	Ind	191	185	17	6807	40.52	84.49	143	40	8	3
Brian Lara	WI	204	199	21	7665	43.06	78.38	169	48	12	4