Ravindra Jadeja v Alastair Cook has become a one-sided contest in this Test series
Shiva Jayaraman16-Dec-20162:30
Aakash Chopra on how Ravindra Jadeja has been getting the better of Alastair Cook
Alastair Cook was dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja for the fifth time in this series, on day one in Chennai. Jadeja had dismissed Cook only once from 117 deliveries in Tests before this series – all of those deliveries, however, were bowled in not so helpful conditions in India’s tour of England in 2014. Jadeja’s five dismissals of Cook in this series is the most any bowler has dismissed Cook in a series.
Bowler Series Inns Dismissals Runs BF Ave Ravindra Jadeja England in India Test Series, 2016/17 7 5 60 165 12.00R Ashwin England in India Test Series, 2012/13 7 4 221 510 55.25Stuart Clark The Ashes, 2006/07 6 4 30 110 7.50Mitchell Johnson The Ashes, 2013/14 9 4 73 128 18.25Morne Morkel Basil D’Oliveira Trophy, 2009/10 6 4 60 142 15.00Ishant Sharma Pataudi Trophy (India in England), 2011 5 4 79 174 19.75Umar Gul Pakistan in England Test Series, 2006 7 4 92 151 23.00Cook’s five dismissals have come at an average of 12 runs apiece. Before this series Cook was prolific against left-arm spinners, averaging 101.00 per dismissal against them. He had been dismissed by them only 13 times in 2617 deliveries – an average of 201 balls player per dismissal. Against Jadeja in this series, however, he has been dismissed every 33 deliveries.
Inns Runs BF Dis Ave Balls/DisBefore this series 71 1313 2617 13 101.00 201.30v R Jadeja in this series 7 60 165 5 12.00 33.00Cook’s numbers against spin in Asia have taken a real beating on these England’s tours of Bangladesh and India. Before the 2016-17 season, he was averaging a healthy 67.61 runs per dismissal in Asia against spinners. Including his four dismissals in the Tests against Bangladesh, Cook has just managed to average 22.41 per dismissal this away season, which has brought his overall average against spinners in Asia down by over 10 runs.
Inns Dis Ave Balls/DisEngland’s tour of India & Bangladesh, 2016-17 12 12 22.41 49.25Before the tours 35 21 67.70 151.52Overall v spin in Asia 47 33 51.24 114.334 Centuries by Moeen Ali in Tests this year. Before his two hundreds in this series, he had made centuries against Sri Lanka in Chester-le-Street and against Pakistan at The Oval. Ali is the sixth England batsman to get two hundreds in a Test series in India. Alastair Cook, Ken Barrington, Colin Cowdrey, Mike Gatting and Andrew Strauss are the ones to do it before Ali.20 Number of England batsmen who have scored 1000-plus runs in Tests in a calendar year including Ali, who became the latest to join this list during this innings. Only Australia are ahead of England with 21 such batsmen. Ali is the fourth England batsman to aggregate 1000 Test runs in 2016 after Cook, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow. This equals the record for most batsmen from a team to score 1000-plus runs in any year. England had four such batsmen in 2006. India and South Africa in 2008 and Sri Lanka in 2009 also had four batsmen scoring 1000-plus runs.11 Number of Tests played by Root against India; he has scored at least one fifty-plus score in each of the 11 Tests. This is the second best in terms of consecutive Tests in which a batsman – to have batted in at least one innings of the match – has hit at least one fifty-plus score against any opposition. Don Bradman had 14 such Tests on the trot against England, the highest. Five other batsmen – Kumar Sangakkara against Pakistan, Mahela Jayawardene against India, Neil Harvey against South Africa, John Edrich against Australia and Doug Walters against West Indies – have had a streak of nine such Tests against the opposition.68.42 Percentage of Test innings when Root passed a fifty but fell before a century. Root’s 88 in this innings was the 26th time he was dismissed without getting a hundred, out of the 38 times he has got a fifty. Among batsmen in the top seven with at least 30 fifty-plus scores, only nine others have a worse conversion rate. Arjuna Ranatunga tops this list at 85.71% (he was dismissed before getting a century 36 times out of 42 fifty-plus scores).1 Number of third-wicket stands for England in Tests in India that are larger than the 146 between Root and Ali in this innings. Cook and Kevin Pietersen had added 206 runs in Mumbai during England’s previous tour.
