Any cricket buff would know that Sir Garfield Sobers is considered the gold standard for all-round greatness in cricket, and on Saturday at The Oval, India’s Ravindra Jadeja – nicknamed ‘Sir’ too – broke one of the former West Indies legend’s records that has stood since 1966.
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During Day 3 of the fifth Test between England and India, Jadeja scored his sixth 50+ score of the series. Jadeja’s series tally of 516 runs is the second most by an away batter in a series played in England batting at No 6 or lower, behind only the great Sobers’ 722 in 1966. But Jadeja has hit more 50+ scores (6) than Sobers in that series (5), which is a new record in England.
Jadeja is also only the visiting player after Sobers to score 1,000+ runs and take 30+ wickets in Tests played in England. Jadeja’s 516 runs have come at an average of 86 and he joined Shubman Gill (754) and KL Rahul (532) as the only three batters to go past the 500-run tally in the series. Of course, that could still change if the likes of Ben Duckett, Joe Root or Jamie Smith go big for England in the second innings.
Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 118 and half-centuries from Akash Deep (66), Jadeja (53) and Washington Sundar (53) helped India set a stiff 374-run target against England, on the third day of the fifth Test here on Saturday.
Resuming at 75 for two, India were bolstered by a second ton of the series for Jaiswal who made 118 off 164 balls with 14 fours and two sixes, while Akash Deep smacked his maiden half-century to end with 66 off 94 balls with 12 fours. One of the most consistent performers of the series, Jadeja then propped up the score with another vital fifty as he made 53 off 77 balls with five fours. This was his fifth half century of the series apart from a hundred scored in previous Test.
Towards the end, Washington smacked four sixes and four fours to make a quickfire 53 off 46 balls, putting on 39 runs for the last wicket with Prasidh Krishna, to take India’s lead beyond the 350-run mark.
For England, who lead the series 2-1, Josh Tongue took five for 125.
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Other stats:
46: Shubman Gill fell short of the magical 800-run tally in the series, as he managed a total of just 32 runs at The Oval, to finish the tour with 754 runs. It’s the 19th most in the history of Test cricket and the second best by an Indian behind Gavaskar’s 774 in the West Indies.
263/9: The highest successful run-chase at the iconic Oval came back in August 1902 in a 1-wicket win for England. Only thrice has a team crossed 370 in a fourth innings at the venue.
6: Akash Deep became only the 6th Indian player to achieve the double of a 50+ score and a 10-wicket haul within the first 10 matches of their career. Washington Sundar was the previous one.
(With PTI inputs)
