6 important statistics about Eden Gardens

The second test of the India-New Zealand series is taking place at the legendary Eden Gardens at Kolkata. This is a ground that has seen some historical performances like VVS Laxman’s epic 281 and Harbhajan Singh’s hat-trick, which was the first ever by an Indian bowler in test matches, both against Australia in 2001.

These are performances that are etched in the memories of cricket lovers forever.

In this vein, let’s have a look at some key statistics related to the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, in test cricket:

#1 Top team scores

Unsurprisingly, it is Team India that leads the way here as their batsmen have dominated proceedings at this ground since forever.

Team	Score	Overs	Innings	Opponent	Result
India	657/7d	178.0	Third	Australia	Won
India	643/6d	153.0	Second	South Africa	Won
India	633/5d	159.0	Second	Australia	Won
India	631/7d	151.2	First	West Indies	Won
India	616/5d	152.5	First	Pakistan	Draw
West Indies	614/5d	162.1	First	India	Won
India	565	172.2	Second	West Indies	Draw
West Indies	530/5d	151.5	First	India	Draw
England	523	167.3	Second	India	Won
West Indies	497	171.3	Second	India	Draw

#2 Top individual scores

Again, no surprises, as it’s that 281 by ‘Very Very Special’ Laxman that tops the list of highest scores at this ground. Such was the brilliance of this innings that it was recently rated as the best test performance of the last 50 years.

Batsman	Team	Score	Balls Faced	Innings	Opponent	Result
VVS Laxman	India	281	452	Third	Australia	Won
Rohan Kanhai	West Indies	256	-	First	India	Won
Wasim Jaffer	India	202	274	First	Pakistan	Draw
Alastair Cook	England	190	377	Second	India	Won
Saeed Anwar	Pakistan	188*	259	Third	India	Won
Sunil Gavaskar	India	182*	-	Third	West Indies	Draw
Mohd. Azharuddin	India	182	197	First	England	Won
Rahul Dravid	India	180	353	Third	Australia	Won
Rohit Sharma	India	177	301	Second	West Indies	Won
VVS Laxman	India	176*	280	First	West Indies	Won

#3 Top bowling performances

A surprise here at no.1. It is the South African all-rounder Lance Klusener who holds the record for the best ever bowling figures in an innings at this ground, and astonishingly, he did it on his test debut!

Bowler	Team	Overs	Runs	Wickets	Innings	Opponent	Result
Lance Klusener	South Africa	21.3	64	8	Fourth	India	Won
Javagal Srinath	India	27.0	86	8	Third	Pakistan	Lost
Ghulam Ahmed	India	20.3	49	7	First	Australia	Lost
Anil Kumble	India	38.0	63	7	Fourth	Pakistan	Won
Harbhajan Singh	India	30.0	87	7	Third	South Africa	Won
BS Bedi	India	50.0	98	7	Second	Australia	Lost
Harbhajan Singh	India	37.5	123	7	First	Australia	Won
Malcolm Marshall	West Indies	15.0	37	6	Third	India	Won
Richie Benaud	Australia	29.0	52	6	Second	India	Won
Roy Gilchrist	West Indies	21.0	55	6	Third	India	Won

#4 Overall team statistics

Team India, being the home team, has played the highest number of tests at this venue with 40*. West Indies and England have played 10 each. Among the test playing nations, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have never played a test here.

Team	Matches	Won	Lost	Draw	Tied	W/L Ratio
India	40*	11	9	19	0	1.222
West Indies	10	3	3	4	0	1.000
Australia	7	2	2	3	0	1.000
England	10	2	3	5	0	0.666
Pakistan	7	1	1	5	0	1.000
South Africa	3	1	2	0	0	0.500
New Zealand	3*	0	0	2	0	0.000

Note: The stars indicate that this list includes the India-NZ test that is presently underway. It is India’s 40^th and New Zealand’s 3^rd test at this venue.

#5 Most runs at the venue

Who else but Mr. Laxman again! He tops the run charts at this venue with over 1200 runs in just 10 tests and an average of over a 100 runs per innings.

Batsman	Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	Highest Score	100s	50s
VVS Laxman	10	15	1217	110.63	281	5	3
Rahul Dravid	9	16	962	68.71	180	4	3
Sachin Tendulkar	13	21	872	45.81	176	2	6
Mohd. Azharuddin	7	9	860	107.50	182	5	2
Dilip Vengsarkar	7	12	645	71.66	157*	2	2
Sunil Gavaskar	8	15	583	44.84	182*	2	1
ML Jaisimha	7	13	530	44.16	129	1	2
Virender Sehwag	6	10	514	51.40	165	1	2
Gundappa Viswanath	8	15	501	33.40	139	1	3
MS Dhoni	5	7	457	91.40	144	2	2

#6 Most wickets at the venue

‘The Turbanator’, Harbhajan Singh, who took a hat-trick here, performed incredibly at this ground. The wily off-spinner has taken 46 wickets here in just 7 tests that include 6 five-wicket hauls.

Bowler	Matches	Innings	Wickets	BBI	BBM	Average	SR	5-w	10-w
Harbhajan Singh	7	13	46	7/87	13/196	21.76	54.1	6	1
Anil Kumble	8	15	40	7/63	10/161	30.82	73.8	2	1
BS Bedi	6	10	29	7/98	7/98	22.03	65.1	3	0
Kapil Dev	8	15	27	6/91	6/107	32.37	68.8	2	0
Javagal Srinath	4	7	22	8/86	13/132	23.90	44.2	2	1
Ghulam Ahmed	4	7	21	7/49	10/130	22.28	51.7	1	1
Vinoo Mankad	5	10	21	4/49	6/105	27.09	72.0	0	0
Salim Durani	5	9	19	6/73	8/113	21.89	53.5	2	0
Richie Benaud	2	4	18	6/52	11/105	14.83	43.6	2	1
BS Chandrasekhar	6	10	18	5/65	9/107	30.44	80.7	1	0