Two in Two: Toppling the greats on their fortress, Shamar Joseph's heroics, Ollie Popes' masterclass and more stats

In an enthralling day of Test cricket played on January 28th, 2024, two of the world's best teams were toppled on their own fortress. First, the West Indies toppled Australia at Brisbane; then, India got toppled by England in Hyderabad. 

In this article, let us look at the stats review of both games and a few stats achieved by the teams:

Shamar Joseph’s Fiery Bowling Hands West Indies a Historic Win Against Australia:

Earlier in the game, opting to bat first, West Indies were reduced to 64/5 in the first innings, courtesy of a sublime bowling performance from the pace trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood. Kavem Hodge and Joshua Da Silva led the rescue with a 149-run stand for the sixth wicket.

The former contributed 71, and the latter scored 79 runs, while handy cameos down the order from Kevin Sinclair (50) and Alzarri Joseph (32) helped West Indies post 311 in the first innings.

Trailing by 311, Australia had an awful start, being reduced to 54/5, courtesy of a lethal bowling spell from the duo of Alzarri Joseph and Kemar Roach. Usman Khawaja and Alex Carey led the rescue with a 96-run stand. Khawaja played with caution for his patient 75, while Carey scored a counter-attacking 49-ball 65. Cummins down the order scored an unbeaten 63 to help Australia post 289. Surprisingly, Australia declared, trailing by 22 runs.

West Indies started their second innings, leading by 22 runs. Lyon and Hazlewood together shared six wickets among them as the Windies got bowled out for 193. Their innings were bolstered by a valuable 41-run knock from Kirk McKenzie while Alick Athanza (35), Hodge (29), and Just Greaves (33) got starts but none were able to go big. West Indies set a target of 216 for Australia to win the match and the series.

In pursuit of 216, Australia were shaky with the bat, losing wickets at regular intervals. Alzarri Joseph drew the first blood for Windies as Khawaja departed for 10, while Marnus Labuschagne departed for 5 against the likes of Greaves. Green and Steven Smith added 70 runs for the third wicket before the heroics of Shamar Joseph started. Green got dismissed for 42, while in the very next ball, Joseph cleaned up Travis Head. Joseph continued to pick up wickets as Australia continued to falter. As a result, the mighty Aussies lost by 8 runs. Shamar Joseph ended his spell at 7/68 in his 11.5 overs while for Australia, Smith remained unbeaten on 91.

Bazballers England Outclassed Top-Ranked India in Their Backyard:

England, opting to bat first, got off to a good start as the openers continued to score runs at a fast rate, piling up 55 runs in 11.4 overs before Ravichandran Ashwin provided the breakthrough for India, trapping Duckett in front. In the next few overs, Jadeja joined the party by cleaning up Ollie Pope, and Crawley departed soon, leaving England in trouble at 60/3. Jonny Bairstow (37) and Joe Root (29) had starts but threw away their wickets. Skipper Ben Stokes (70) played with aggression and caution down the order to help England post a decent total of 246.

Trailing by 246, India's batting was highlighted by Jaiswal's ruthless power-hitting, scoring 80 off 74 balls, while KL Rahul played an anchoring role, scoring a patient 86. Ravindra Jadeja was the star, contributing 87 runs off 180 balls, the top score for India in the first innings. Useful contributions from Shreyas Iyer (35), Axar Patel (41), and Srikar Bharat (44) helped India post a total of 436, taking a substantial 190-run lead.

Trailing by 190, England's batting was all about Ollie Pope, who single-handedly turned the tide towards their side with a blistering 196 runs in the second innings. He was ably supported in partnerships by the likes of Ben Foakes (34), Tom Hartley (34), and Rehan Ahmed (28), as a result of which, England were bowled out for 420, taking the lead to 230. Bumrah's four-wicket haul was the key highlight in ordinary Indian bowling in the second innings.

Chasing 231 on the fourth day in the subcontinent, India failed to master the chase as they were bowled out for 202, eventually losing the game by 28 runs, courtesy of a brilliant bowling display from debutant Tom Hartley, who ended the game at 7/62. Rohit Sharma top-scored with 39 while there were no other significant contributions for India. England lead India 1-0 with four matches to be played.