It was day to remember for ages. Records fell like nine pins. Sensing an iota of opportunity to force what earlier looked like an improbable victory on the fourth day of the 2nd Test match against Bangladesh at Kanpur, after losing two full days to rain, Indian batsmen, led by captain Rohit Sharma, went ballistic, trampling records at will.
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Wrapping up the visitors’ first innings at 233 (resuming the innings on the fourth day at 107-3) midway through the second session of play, Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal strode into the park with an intent, plundering runs at will against a clueless young Bangladesh pace attack. After young Yashasvi smacked fours of three consecutive balls of the first over, Rohit hoisted the first two balls of the next for maximums.
That set the tone for the fastest team 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 in Test cricket history. Though wickets fell at regular intervals in the process, Indian batsmen were undeterred. With just five sessions available to force a win, caution was not an option.
The fearless cricket yielded intended results, as declaring the innings at 285-9 in 34.4 overs, with possibility of squeezing in a few more overs before bad light would force stumps, India had Bangladesh on the mat, with the visitors reeling at 26-2 at close of play, still trailing by another 26 runs.
Exciting cricket is in prospect on the final day of the Kanpur Test.
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Will India be able to force a memorable victory!
The records that tumbled, and the milestones reached
Fastest team 50 in Test cricket: Racing to 51/0 in 3 overs, India broke England’s record of 4.2 overs in the Nottingham Test against West Indies earlier this year.
Fastest team 100: At 103/1 in 10.1 overs, India broke their own record of 12.2 overs made in the Trinidad Test against West Indies in 2023.
Fastest team 150: With 155/3 in 18.2 overs, the home team broke their own record of 21.1 overs made in the Trinidad Test against West Indies in 2023.
Fastest team 200: At 201/4 in 24.2 overs, India broke Australia’s record of 28.1 overs made in the 2017 Test against Pakistan in Sydney.
Fastest team 250: With 250/5 in 30.1 overs, India broke England’s record of 34 overs in the Rawalpindi Test against Pakistan in 2022.
Virat Kohli breaches 27,000 international runs Mark: He became the fourth batter to reach 27,000 international runs, the others being Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara. He became the fastest to reach the landmark, in 594 innings, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar (623 innings), Kumar Sangakkara (648 innings) and Ricky Pointing (650 innings).
Sixes of first two balls faced: Rohit Sharma became only the fourth batter to hit sixes off their first two balls (off Khaled Ahmed) in a men’s Test innings. The others are Foffie Williams (off Jim Laker) in 1948, Sachin Tendulkar (off Nathan Lyon) in 2013 and Umesh Yadav (off George Linde) in 2019.
Ravindra Jadeja’s achieves landmark: He became the seventh Indian bowler to pick up 300 wickets in Test cricket. The others are Anil Kumble (619), Ravi Ashwin (524), Kapil Dev (434), Harbhajan Singh (417), Ishant Sharma (311) and Zaheer Khan (311).
He also became the second-fastest player in Test cricket to achieve the double milestone of 3,000 runs and 300 wickets, trailing only England’s Ian Botham. Jadeja reached this milestone in 74 Tests, just behind Ian Botham’s 72, becoming the 11th player worldwide to accomplish this remarkable feat.
He is the third Indian to achieve this unique record, joining the ranks of Kapil Dev and Ravichandran Ashwin. In reaching 300 Test wickets, he also became the fourth-fastest Indian to achieve the milestone of 300 wickets, following Ashwin (54 matches), Anil Kumble (66), and Harbhajan Singh (72).
Most sixes by a team: 96 sixes smashed by India in 2024 is the most maximums by a team in a calendar year in Test cricket, surpassing 89 by England in 2022, with 87 sixes by India in 2021 sitting in the third slot. India have possibly the second innings of the ongoing Kanpur Test and another seven to follow in the remainder of the year to add to the tally.
