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Bangladesh v India, 2nd Test, Dhaka, 3rd day
Ashraful's blitz, and Zaheer's rise
S Rajesh
May 27, 2007
Stats highlights from India's thumping three-day win in the second Test against Bangladesh.
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Mohammad Ashraful's 67 was a rare positive for Bangladesh
© AFP
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India's victory at Mirpur by an innings and 239 runs is their 25th Test win by an innings, and their biggest - the earlier record margin was their innings-and-219-run victory against Australia at Kolkata in 1997-98. Seventeen of those 25 wins have been achieved at home, while five more have come outside India but in the subcontinent.
India's first-innings lead of 492 is also their highest ever in Tests. Their previous record was 400, against Australia at Kolkata in the match mentioned above.
Bangladesh didn't have much to cheer about, but Mohammad Ashraful's delightful strokeplay offered some moments of joy for the home crowd, and entered the record books as the second-fastest half-century - in terms of balls - ever scored in Tests. Ashraful reached his 50 off a mere 26 balls; only Jacques Kallis, who made one off 24 deliveries against Zimbabwe at Cape Town in 2004-05, has done better, while Ian Botham and Shahid Afridi have also managed 26-ball fifties. (Click here for the fastest fifties in Tests.) Ashraful's 67 was his third 50-plus score in seven Test innings against India. Ashraful averages 58.60 against them, which is almost two-and-a-half times his career average of 24.35.
Mashrafe Mortaza has played 40 Test innings, but 35% of his total runs have come in his last three innings - 79, 2, 70. In his last eight innings before the Chittagong Test he had scored 12 runs.
When Anil Kumble trapped Mohammad Sharif in front in the first innings, it was the 138th time he had nailed an lbw. It equals the record for most number of lbws in Tests, which is now jointly held by Kumble and Shane Warne.
Javed Omar was dismissed for a first-ball duck in both innings, becoming the first Bangladesh batsman to bag a king pair. This was the 19th instance of a Bangladesh batsman bagging a pair, while Omar became the 15th batsman to do so. The pair also reduced his average against India down to 11.84 from four Tests, and his overall average to just 22 in 37 Tests.
The Man-of-the-Match award for Zaheer Khan is his first in 47 Tests. In his last nine matches he has taken 40 wickets at an average of 28.20, six runs lower than his career average, while his strike rate too has reduced significantly to 46.1.
Bangladesh's batting performance showed they still have plenty to do to be competitive as a Test side: their 118 in the first innings is their fifth-lowest Test total. Their worst at home is 87, against West Indies at Dhaka in 2002-03.
S Rajesh is stats editor of Cricinfo
© Cricinfo
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