India’s fastest-scoring Test innings: The entire conversation around Ashes 2023 has centered around playing positive cricket. There is the often-used term ‘Bazball’ to describe England’s aggressive batting. But in all fairness, Australia too has batted positively. It has been refreshing to see two high-quality sides play a brand of cricket that has been result oriented.
There have been several instances where India too has batted aggressively right throughout their innings. Batters’ aggressive gameplay allows the bowlers enough time to pick up 20 wickets. Hence winning a Test at times is proportional to the pace of an innings.
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We look at a few of India’s fastest-scoring Test innings:
#3 West Indies, 2013 | RPO – 4.58
It was the farewell Test of Sachin Tendulkar. India was leading the 2-match series 1-0 after a convincing win in the first Test in Kolkata. West Indies opted to bat in Mumbai in the second Test. Indian bowlers did a quick job in dismantling the opposition. Pragyan Ojha was the wrecker-in-chief as he bagged a fiver in the first innings. West Indies was bowled out for a paltry 182.
In response, India scored freely and posted a big score. Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma smashed centuries with the latter scoring at a brisk pace too. India put on 495 runs in 108 overs at a run rate of 4.58. They did a short work of West Indies in the second innings too as India registered an innings win!
#2 New Zealand, 1990 | RPO – 4.61
It is difficult to imagine an Indian side in the early 90s to feature on this list. But that is exactly what transpired in the 1990 Auckland Test. New Zealand batted first and posted a total of 391 at a run rate of 4.23. Ian Smith batting at number 9 hammered 173 off just 136 balls at a strike rate of 127.20. India in response went one better as they managed to post 482 runs on the board.
The manner in which they scored those runs was more fascinating. India batted for 104.3 overs at a run rate of 4.61. Mohammad Azharuddin was the chief architect of the reply as he smashed 192 off 259 balls. Kiran More and Atul Wassan made crucial quick-fire lower-order contributions to propel the side. The game though ended in a draw as the featherbed of a pitch failed to yield a result.
#1 England, 2022 | RPO – 4.9
It was the one-off Test in 2022 that was incidentally the series-deciding 5th Test of the England-India series. England opted to field first in helpful conditions. India was reduced to 98-5 in 27.5 overs. It was the pair of Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja that helped India recover in stunning style. The duo struck contrasting centuries. Pant was the enforcer who slammed his way to 111-ball 146 comprising 19 fours and 1 six. Jadeja took the conventional route to score 104 off 194 balls.
A cameo from stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah added spice to the contest. He broke the world record for most runs scored off a single over in Tests. Bumrah smashed Stuart Broad for 34 runs. It resulted in India scoring 416 runs at a top run rate of 4.90. But England emerged victorious as they chased down a tall score of 378 in the fourth innings.
