Top 6 first innings scores in an innings defeat
The India-England series that came to a close with India reclaiming the Anthony De Mello Trophy was a carnival for statisticians and trivia-gatherers. Several records were broken even in the fifth and Final Test at Chennai. That we even got a match after the cyclone that hit the city days before the match was a miracle. That we got a result on a dead pitch like that was another miracle.
That the result came in the final session of the final day made it an enthralling piece of entertainment for the fans, mostly Indian supporters. England’s long tour finally came hurtling to a tragic close and they’ll be thankful Christmas is at their doorstep.
England gave themselves a good chance to reclaim some lost pride in the final Test, firstly by winning the toss - for the fourth time this series – and secondly by posting an impressive 477. It is not every day that you lose Test matches after scoring 477 in your first innings, mostly never if you are in India where the pitches deteriorate day after day as the match progresses.
However, such has been England’s fortune that they managed to lose 10 wickets in two sessions, six in the final alone to lose a Test they had no business losing, the series ending with a 4-0 score-line. India finally settled the scores for the nightmarish 0-4 tour they had in 2011.
Interestingly, 6 times, only 6 times in the history of Test cricket has a team lost by an innings and change after scoring 400 or above in their first innings. England has lost four of those six matches. Only four times have teams lost by an innings after scoring 400 in the first innings of the Test.
Two of them are England’s defeats, both coming in consecutive Tests in the PayTM series, showing how poor they’ve been and how good a young Indian side has been. We take a look at the top 6 first innings’ scores of teams in innings defeats. In 3 of those 6 games, it was India which was the winning side, something they can be proud of! (Stats courtesy: Cricinfo)
#1 477 - England lost to India by an innings and 75 runs (2016)
Batting first England posted a mammoth total of 477 on a pitch that hardly responded to pace or spin. India started their innings under pressure. Their usual top contributors, Kohli, Vijay and Pujara were dismissed cheaply. India still managed to amass a whopping 759, their highest Test score, thanks to 199 from Lokesh Rahul and a maiden century converted to a triple hundred by Karun Nair, only in his third Test.
England had to bat out a little more than a day in their second innings to save the game. The match seemed headed for a draw after England managed to survive until lunch of the final day without losing a wicket.
However, they collapsed from 103 for no loss to 207 all out. They lost 6 wickets in the final session going from 192 for 4 to 207 all out in the space of 16 overs. India made history, thanks to Ravindra Jadeja, who picked up career-best figures, with a 7-for – almost super-human on that pitch – and a brilliant outfield catch!