England vs India, 2018: Test series – Statistical Preview

The much-awaited 5-match Test series between England and India starts on August 1 amidst the expectations of a thrilling contest after two evenly fought T20I and ODI series. India, the No.1 Test team by a fair margin, would like to erase the tag of being poor travellers. They were on the losing side during the Test series in South Africa 1-2 this year and have won only one of their last ten Test matches in England. The home team, on the other hand, has faced tough times in this format overseas recently but will be glad to be playing at home again.

All the key stats and numbers ahead of the 5-match Test series between England and India:

0 – Joe Root has failed to score a century in his last ten Test matches. He scored eight fifties in the 17 innings but failed to touch three-figure mark. Root scored 638 runs in these 10 Test matches at an average of 39.88.

1 – England’s recent Test win at the Leeds against Pakistan was their first win in nine Test matches. That win brought an end to their 8-match streak without a win in Test cricket out of which they lost six.

10.50 – Ajinkya Rahane has a batting average of 10.5 in his last five Test matches. He scored 84 runs in the eight innings he batted in his last five Tests with the best score of 48.

14.33 – Cheteshwar Pujara’s batting average in the six first-class matches in England this year. He scored 172 in the 12 innings he batted in the country this year with the best score of 41. Pujara got out for just 1 and 23 runs in the 3-day warm-up game against Essex which didn’t have FC status.

21 – Virat Kohli has won 21 out of the 35 matches as captain in Test cricket. He is the joint 2nd most successful Indian captain in Test cricket along with Sourav Ganguly (21). MS Dhoni won 27 matches as the Indian Test captain.

20.25 – Ishant Sharma’s bowling average in the last five Test matches he has played. He took 20 wickets in those games at a strike rate of 44.85.

60 – James Anderson has bagged 60 wickets in the 13 Test matches he has played since the start of August 2017. He took three five-wicket hauls in those 13 Tests and has an average of 19.45 and a strike rate of 49.87.

Stuart Broad, on the other hand, took 42 wickets, with a five-wicket haul at an average of 30.12 which is higher than his career average.

158 – Number of wickets Jamie Porter has taken in County Championship including nine 5-wicket hauls since the start of 2016 and is the highest wicket-taker in this period. Porter played 34 matches in this span and has an average of 22.95.

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