Records and numbers from the WI tour : Rahul’s maiden ton in West Indies

ByArun S Kaimal, SportsCafe Editor

08/01/2016

KL Rahul’s career-best score of 158 – his third century in Tests – helped him become the first Indian opener to score a debut century in West Indies. The Indian batsman broke a plethora of records on his way to the 158 as India ended the day with a 162-run lead. A look at the key stats.

1 – KL Rahul became the first Indian opener to score a century in his debut Test innings in West Indies on Sunday. The previous highest by an opener in his debut Test innings in West Indies was Ajay Jadeja’s 96 in St. John’s in 1997. KL Rahul also became the third Indian opener to score his first three centuries away from home. Before Rahul, Sunil Gavaskar made his first eight centuries away from home, while Vinoo Mankad also scored his first three centuries outside India. He is also the eighth Indian player to do so. The others are : - Sunil Gavaskar (8), Rahul Dravid (5), Sanjay Manjrekar (4), Sachin Tendulkar (4), Ajinkya Rahane (4), Vinoo Mankad (3), Sourav Ganguly (3).

2 – KL Rahul also became the second Indian player to convert his first three fifties into hundreds. The first to do so was former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin, who scored three hundreds in his first three Tests.

3 – KL Rahul’s 158 in the third-highest score by a visiting player in his first Test in West Indies. New Zealand’s Glenn Turner scored 223 not-out at the Sabina Park in Jamaica in 1971-72, while South Africa’s Andrew Hudson made 163 in Bridgetown in 1991-92.

5 – Rahul also became the fifth Indian player to score a century in his first Test innings in West Indies. The others are : - Polly Umrigar, Brijesh Patel, R Ashwin, and Sanjay Manjrekar.

5 – Rahul became the fifth batsman to score a 150+ score in his maiden Test innings in West Indies. The others are : - Andy Sandham, Glenn Turner, Andrew Hudson, and Gary Kirsten.

90.82 – Percentage of Rahul’s career runs which came from his highest scores – 376 out of 414. He has scored only 38 runs in his other eight innings.

158 – Rahul’s 158 is the second-highest score by an Indian at Sabina Park in Jamaica. The previous best was 212 by Dilip Sardesai in 1971.

2009 – The last time an Indian opener made 150 or more in Tests outside Asia. Before Rahul’s 158, Gautam Gambhir’s 167 in Wellington 2008-09 was the last hundred and fifty-plus score by an Indian opener outside Asia.

Also read : Is KL Rahul the long term replacement for Shikhar Dhawan ?

46.84 – Average of Cheteshwar Pujara’s is the highest among the current Indian batsmen in Tests. The other batsmen in the current Indian squad average - Shikhar Dhawan (42.18), KL Rahul (25.60), Virat Kohli (46.28), Ajinkya Rahane (44.35), Murali Vijay (40.56), Rohit Sharma (33.18).

42.39 – is the strike rate of Pujara since the start of 2014. He had a strike rate of 52.21 till the end of 2013 from his debut.

Courtesy : ESPNcricinfo, Cricbuzz, Twitter – Mohandas Menon

Also, read : Virat Kohli | The 5-year long journey from Jamaica to Antigua