Manav Suthar had 17 wickets after two Tests. Was this a record? asked Arvind Sathe from India
The Indian slow left-armer Manav Suthar followed his seven wickets on debut against Afghanistan in Mullanpur in June with ten more (4 for 76 and 6 for 55) against Sri Lanka in Galle last week.
That gave him 17 wickets after two Tests: only 11 bowlers have taken more, while five others had 17. Top of the list is another Indian, legspinner Narendra Hirwani, who had 24, helped by record figures of 16 for 136 on his debut, against West Indies in Chennai in 1988. Alec Bedser took 22, and Bob Massie and Prabath Jayasuriya, who was also playing in this Test in Galle, 21.
Suthar's wickets so far have come at an average of 11.35: Hirwani's cost 10.71 and Bedser's 10.82. Axar Patel, another current India left-arm spinner, took 18 wickets in his first two Tests at an average of 9.44. Suthar's third Test, in Colombo, should be ongoing when this is published: after three matches, Hirwani had 31 wickets, Jayasuriya and Charles Turner (Australia) 29, and Axar and Rodney Hogg (Australia) 27.
How often has a batter been dismissed by the first ball of a Test, as Azan Awais was at Headingley? asked Nick Priestley from England
The unfortunate Azan Awais - who was lbw to Ollie Robinson to the first ball of the match at Headingley last week provided the 36th instance of a batter being dismissed by the first ball of a Test match. India's Sunil Gavaskar and Hannan Sarkar of Bangladesh fell this way on three occasions (Sarkar was dismissed by West Indies' Pedro Collins each time).
Awais was only the fifth man to fall to the first ball of a Test in England, following England's Tom Hayward (1907), Warren Bardsley of Australia (1926), Gavaskar (1974) and Daren Ganga (2007): none of those previous instances in England came from the first ball of a series. The only previous batter to suffer this fate for Pakistan was Mohsin Khan, who was lbw to Kapil Dev from the first ball of the only Test ever played in Jalandhar, in 1983.
Yashasvi Jaiswal is winning his 31st Test cap in Colombo, and all his matches so far have been on different grounds. Is this a record? asked Kannan KP via Facebook
You're right that the Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal is currently playing his 31st Test, all at different venues. But he's not the record holder - yet. Sachin Tendulkar played his first 32 Tests on different grounds, and Sanjay Manjrekar went one better with 33.
India have two Tests in New Zealand in November, before a five-match series at home to Australia, which starts in January. Jaiswal has not yet played in New Zealand, and he has also not appeared in a Test in Nagpur, the venue for the first Test against the Aussies. So if he remains in the side for all those matches he will have 34 caps - a new record in this regard - before the second Test in Chennai, where he has played a Test before (against Bangladesh in September 2024).
Hasan Mahmud took nine wickets against Australia in Darwin. What are the best match figures by a Bangladesh fast bowler in a Test? asked Hasibul Siddique from Bangladesh
Hasan Mahmud's match figures of 9 for 111 in the stunning victory over Australia in Darwin last week are actually the second-best by a Bangladesh seamer in any Test: no one has yet taken ten in a match, but Shahadat Hossain picked up 9 for 97 against South Africa in Mirpur in 2008. Robiul Islam also took nine wickets in the match (for 155) against Zimbabwe in Harare in 2013.
There have been eight instances of Bangladeshi spinners taking ten or more wickets in a Test, three by Mehidy Hasan and two each by Shakib Al Hasan and Taijul Islam.
Devdutt Padikkal's first three Tests came under three different captains, is this the longest such streak? asked Swapnil Phadke via Facebook
Devdutt Padikkal made his Test debut for India against England in Dharamsala in 2024, with Rohit Sharma as captain. His second cap came later the same year in Perth, under Jasprit Bumrah. Padikkal then spent 21 months out of the side, but returned in triumph in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle earlier this month, scoring 167 and 44. The captain this time was Shubman Gill.
It was quite a surprise to discover that there have been three men who played their first five Test matches under different captains: William Shalders of South Africa (between April 1899 and January 1906), the great West Indian batter George Headley, and India's Chandu Borde in 1958 and 1959. Headley was helped by a peculiar situation in his first Test series, against England in 1929-30, when the home territory chose a local captain for all four Tests.
There have been 17 other men whose first four Tests came under different captains, including the famous England batter CB Fry, who was led by Tim O'Brien, Lord Hawke, WG Grace and Archie MacLaren. The South African wicketkeeper Ernest "Barberton" Halliwell played eight Tests in all, skippering in three himself and playing under five different captains in the others.
Shiva Jayaraman of Cricinfo's stats team helped with some of the above answers.
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