India vs England, 1st Test Day 2 Stats: Stokes gets off the mark, India left with mountain to climb

On another day of bat winning over ball, England racked up a massive first innings total while India managed to get the deficit down to 474 on day two of the first Test between India and England at Rajkot.

Having begun the day on 311/4, Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes both scored centuries and helped England post a massive 537 in their first innings before they were bowled out. Ravindra Jadeja was the pick of the bowlers as he finished with 3/86 while Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Ravichandran Ashwin all picked up a couple.

In response, India’s openers, Murali Vijay and Gautam Gambhir remained resolute till the close of play as they finished the day on 63/0, still a massive 474 runs behind England’s tally with three days to play.

Here are some interesting numbers from the second day’s play.

0 – After three ducks in his first three innings against India, Ben Stokes finally got a run against India in Tests. He made the most of it by scoring his fourth century, and his first in Asia.

1 – Only once have England scored more than 537 in an innings and lost a Test match. That was in 2006 at Adelaide against Australia when they declared on 551/6 but still lost.

2 – This is the first time that England have had two batsmen score a century in their first innings in India. Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes, both got centuries on day two.

3 – This is England’s third highest total in India in a Test. Their highest was 652/7 in Chennai, while their second-best came in 1964 and their tally of 537 sits third on this list.

4 – Stuart Broad became the fourth player after Glenn McGrath, Makhaya Ntini and James Anderson to bat at No.11 in his 100^th Test.

8 – Only eight English batsmen have scored a century in their first innings in India. Stokes and Moeen joined this list today and they were the first to do so since Paul Collingwood in 2006.

15 – Moeen Ali became the 15^th batsman to score a century after being not out on 99 overnight. Every batsman who remained 99* overnight has gone on to hit a century the following day.

25 – This is the 25^th time that a visiting team has scored more than 500 in an innings in India. Of the previous 24 instances, India haven’t won a single Test.

26 – The previous-best opening partnership between Gautam Gambhir and Murali Vijay was 26. This is the first time they have put on a 50-run opening partnership.

31.5 – Umesh Yadav’s spell of 31.5 overs is the most he has bowled in a home Test. His previous best was also against England when he bowled 23 overs in Ahmedabad in 2012.

347 – England’s highest score in a losing cause in India is 347, which they managed at the Wankhede in 1993.

397 – The average first innings total in first-class matches in Rajkot is 397. Before England’s 537, nine of the 24 first innings total were more than 500.

478 – Australia’s 478 at Bangalore in 2010 is the highest first innings score in India in a losing cause. England finished with 537 to their name.

2008 – England’s first six wickets have all added at least 25 runs against India, which is the first time since Australia at Kotla in 2008 that a team has managed to do that against India in an innings.

2009 – The last time that three visiting batsmen scored 100s in the same innings in India was in 2009. Joe Root, Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes got their hundreds this time and on that occasion, it was Sri Lanka who did it in Ahmedabad. England also did it once before at Kanpur in 1961.

2012 – England became the first visiting team since 2012 to score a 500 in India. They were the last to achieve it in 2012 at Kolkata, which was also India’s last home Test loss.