New Zealand just whitewashed India away from home. How rare is this feat? asked Donald McKenzie from New Zealand
As has been mentioned a lot elsewhere, New Zealand's 3-0 win, completed in that exciting low-scoring match in Mumbai last weekend, was the first time India had lost every Test in a series of three or more matches on home soil. They did lose both Tests against South Africa in India in 1999-2000.
There have now been ten clean sweeps away from home in Tests, again given a minimum of three matches. It's 11 if you count Australia's 3-0 win over Pakistan in 2002-03, when the first Test was played in Sri Lanka and the next two in Sharjah, as Australia were reluctant to go to Pakistan for security reasons. Pride of place has to go to West Indies, who won 5-0 in England in 1984. The others - all 3-0 away wins - were achieved by England in South Africa in 1895-96, in New Zealand in 1962-63, in Sri Lanka in 2018-19, and in Pakistan in 2022-23; by Australia in New Zealand in 1999-2000, in Sri Lanka in 2003-04, and in South Africa in 2005-06; and by India in Sri Lanka in 2017.
In the recent series in India, Daryl Mitchell made three consecutive scores of 18. Is this the highest score to be made by a batter three times in a row in Tests? asked Dejan Gilevski from Australia
New Zealand's Daryl Mitchell made 18 in the first Test against India in Bengaluru, and added 18 and 18 in the second in Pune. He ended the run with 82 in the first innings of the third Test in Mumbai.
It is the highest identical score made in three successive innings (Andrew Flintoff once had three 16s), but there is a clear leader in this regard. In 1978, the West Indian allrounder Norbert Phillip made 26 and 26 not out against Australia in Kingston, and followed that later in the year in India with 26 in Bombay and 26 in Bangalore. Phillip had only 15 innings in his short Test career, and five of them were scores of 26. The highest score made five times during a Test career (not necessarily consecutively) is 103, by Virat Kohli. Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka had five scores of 85, while England's Ken Barrington had five 80s.
Three South Africans made their maiden Test centuries in the same innings in Bangladesh. Has this happened before? asked Chris Goddard from England
The three centurions for South Africa in their recent crushing victory over Bangladesh in the second Test in Chattogram were opener Tony de Zorzi (177), Tristan Stubbs (106) and allrounder Wiaan Mulder (105 not out). It was only the second time three men had made their first Test hundreds in the same innings, following West Indies against India in Delhi in November 1948, when Clyde Walcott made 152, Gerry Gomez 101 and Robert Christiani 107.
India's Hemu Adhikari also made a maiden century (114 not out) in Delhi in that 1948 match. It's one of only four Tests that featured four first-time hundreds: the others were Australia vs England in Melbourne in January 1947 (Ray Lindwall, Colin McCool, Arthur Morris and Cyril Washbrook), West Indies vs England in Port-of-Spain in February 1948 (George Carew, Andy Ganteaume, Billy Griffith and Jack Robertson) and Australia vs West Indies in Georgetown early in 1978 (Larry Gomes, Craig Serjeant, Basil Williams and Graeme Wood).
I've seen the list of Tests where two bowlers shared all 20 wickets. But have there been any where two men shared 19 and the other one was a run out? asked Tom Campbell from Australia
We recently had only the seventh case of two bowlers sharing all 20 opposition wickets in a Test match, by Noman Ali and Sajid Khan for Pakistan in the second Test against England in Multan. That was the first such instance in more than 1850 Tests in over 50 years, since Bob Massie (on debut) and Dennis Lillee shared all 20 for Australia against England at Lord's in 1972.
Noman and Sajid almost did it again in the third Test in Rawalpindi, taking 19 wickets between them: legspinner Zahid Mahmood nipped in for the other one, dismissing England's top scorer, Jamie Smith. That was the 18th instance of two bowlers sharing 19 wickets in the same Test. In three of those the 20th wicket fell to a run out: for England vs South Africa at Lord's in 1912 (Sydney Barnes 11 wickets and Frank Foster eight; Dave Nourse was run-out) and at Edgbaston in 1924 (Arthur Gilligan 11 and Maurice Tate nine, Nummy Deane run-out), and for England vs Pakistan at Old Trafford in 2006 (Steve Harmison 11 wickets and Monty Panesar eight, Danish Kaneria run-out).
Was Mitchell Santner the first visiting spinner to take two six-wicket hauls in a Test in India? asked Sushant Jain from England
Only 12 visiting spinners have taken ten wickets in a Test in India, as this list shows. Ajaz Patel, who took 11 in the third Test in Mumbai, and Saqlain Mushtaq are the only men to do it twice.
Patel also took 14 wickets in Mumbai in December 2021 , which included only the third case of a bowler taking all ten wickets in a Test innings. But he didn't take six wickets in both innings there, as per your question: Mitchell Santner picked up 7 for 53 and 6 for 104 in the recent second Test in Pune, and the only other visiting spinner to do that was the Australian slow left-armer Steve O'Keefe, with 6 for 52 in both innings in Pune in February 2017 . Another Australian, offspinner Jason Krejza, took 12 wickets (8 for 215 and 4 for 143) on his Test debut in Nagpur in November 2008.
The only other visiting spinners to take a five-for in both innings of a Test in India are Richie Benaud (November 1956), Ashley Mallett (December 1969), Greg Matthews (in the tie in Madras in September 1986), Saqlain Mushtaq (in successive matches in Chennai and Delhi early in 1999) and Monty Panesar (November 2012).
Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo's stats team helped with some of the above answers.
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