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Not all it seams
Wisden CricInfo staff - December 10, 2001
S Rajesh rounds up the vital statistics on Ahmedabad Tests
Monday, December 10, 2001
The Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad has played host to five Tests, none of them involving England. India have won two - against Sri Lanka and South Africa - lost to the West Indies and drawn with Pakistan and New Zealand.
Four times out of five, the captain winning the toss has elected to bat. Kapil Dev chose to bowl against the West Indies in November 1983, a move possibly prompted by the Indian batsmen's reluctance to face Holding and Marshall on a fresh pitch. Kapil took a career-best 9 for 83 and India still lost by 138 runs.
Much has been written about the pitch being tailor-made for spin, but seamers have actually outshone spinners. The pacemen have taken 75 wickets at 24.31, while spinners have accounted for 76 wickets at 31.33. But of the 82 wickets taken by Indian bowlers, 31 have gone to the pacers (at 23.16) and 51 to spinners (27.78). Overseas spinners have managed only 25 wickets at 39.98, whereas their seaming team-mates have 44 wickets at 24.36.
Some of the most devasting bowling spells on this ground have been achieved by fast bowlers. As well as Kapil's nine-for, the 1983-84 match was spiced up by Wayne Daniel (5 for 39) and Michael Holding (4 for 30). And in November 1996, Javagal Srinath demolished South Africa, taking six for 21 as India won by 64 runs.
India's left-arm spinner Venkatapathy Raju achieved his career-best figures of 11 for 125 against Sri Lanka here in February 1994. The Indian spinners took 18 wickets out of 20 as India won by an innings and 17 runs, but Anil Kumble managed just one wicket in the entire Test, going wicketless in the second innings.
In eight completed Test innings, overseas sides have only twice exceeded 300. The average scores (total runs divided by 10 wickets) for each innings on this ground are: 1st 340, 2nd 294, 3rd 242, 4th 209.
Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev achieved major landmarks at Motera. Gavaskar became the first man to reach 10,000 runs in Test cricket with a late-cut off Ijaz Fakih of Pakistan in 1987, while Kapil went past Sir Richard Hadlee's 431 wickets when he had Hashan Tillekeratne caught at short leg by Sanjay Manjrekar.
Graham Thorpe and Craig White are the only members of this England squad with international experience at Ahmedabad. They played in the opening match of the 1996 World Cup against New Zealand, which England lost. Thorpe made 9 and White 13 as England set the tone of their World Cup by falling 12 runs short.
Sachin Tendulkar has had mixed success on this ground. His international scores are: (Tests) 6, 42, 7, 217*, 15; (one-dayers) 2, 8; total 297 at 49.50.
Sourav Ganguly has been more successful. In three innings he has made runs every time: (Tests) 125, 53; (one-dayers) 144; total average 322 at 107.33.
Sachin Tendulkar recorded his highest Test score here against New Zealand in October 1999. He made 217, and helped by centuries from Sadagopan Ramesh and Sourav Ganguly, took India to a mammoth first-innings score of 583 for 7. Required to bat out the last day to save the match, New Zealand saw off Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, losing just two wickets to emerge with an honourable draw. Nasser Hussain needs to look no further for inspiration.
With additional reporting by Rob Smyth
© Wisden CricInfo Ltd
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