India vs England at The Oval: Stats highlights
India vs England at The Oval: Stats highlights
Hammered in the third and fourth Test, a demoralised Indian side looks forward to fight back and square the series at The Oval. Abhijit Banare looks at India’s record at the venue.
Though India have lost thrice to England at this venue, this is the same ground where they registered the historic victory in 1971 to clinch their maiden series win in England. There are various moments that stand out in the 11 encounters between the two teams. Bhagwat Chandrasekhar’s six-for in ’71, Anil Kumble’s only century, Rahul Dravid’s double century and others. On the other hand, England will have fond memories of the last encounter where Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell beat India in to submission. The match resulted in England setting a few individual records at this venue. Finally not to forget the agonising loss in 1979 where Suni Gavaskar led with a double ton and India had to settle for a draw falling nine runs short. Here are some key numbers. Read the Preview of India vs England 5th Test here
Win toss bat first? In all the 11 encounters between the two teams here, every single time the team winning the toss has elected to bat. It does give an idea that the pitch is conducive for the batsmen. Below is the record of the teams winning the toss.
| Toss | Year |
| England, Bat | 1936 |
| India, Bat | 1946 |
| England, Bat | 1952 |
| India, Bat | 1959 |
| England, Bat | 1971 |
| England, Bat | 1979 |
| England, Bat | 1982 |
| India, Bat | 1990 |
| England, Bat | 2002 |
| India, Bat | 2007 |
| England, Bat | 2011 |
Results: Below is the results of and the eventual series result in the 11 matches between India and England at The Oval.
| No | Date | Result | Margin | Series |
| 1 | 15-Aug-36 | Lost | 9 wickets | England 2-1 |
| 2 | 17-Aug-46 | Draw | England 1-0 | |
| 3 | 14-Aug-52 | Draw | England 3-0 | |
| 4 | 20-Aug-59 | Lost | Inns and 27 runs | England 5-0 |
| 5 | 19-Aug-71 | Won | 4 wickets | India 1-0 |
| 6 | 30-Aug-79 | Draw | England 1-0 | |
| 7 | 8-Jul-82 | Draw | England 1-0 | |
| 8 | 23-Aug-90 | Draw | England 1-0 | |
| 9 | 15-Sep-02 | Draw | Draw 1-1 | |
| 10 | 2-Aug-07 | Draw | India 1-0 | |
| 11 | 18-Aug-11 | Lost | Inns and 8 runs | England 4-0 |
Highest totals: India piled on runs in 2007 and 1990. The former is the match where Kumble scored his ton.
| India | England | ||
| Runs | Year | Runs | Year |
| 664 | 2007 | 594 | 1982 |
| 609/9 decl. | 1990 | 591/6 decl. | 2011 |
| 508 | 2002 | 515 | 2002 |
| 429/8 | 1979 | 477/4 decl. | 1990 |
| 410 | 1982 | 369/6 | 1936 |
Lowest totals: Quite predictably, the 1959 match features twice as India went down by an innings.
| India | England | ||
| Runs | Year | Runs | Year |
| 98 | 1952 | 101 | 1971 |
| 140 | 1959 | ||
| 194 | 1959 | ||
Centurions for the two teams at The Oval: Perhaps Amit Mishra would’ve fancied making to this list as he fell 16 runs short batting at No 5. Sachin Tendulkar got closer in the same 2011 match where he was dismissed by Tim Bresnan for 91. Kumble scored his only ton at this venue. Interestingly, he was the only Indian to score a ton in the entire 2007 series.
| India | England | ||||
| Batsman | R | Year | Batsman | R | Year |
| Sunil Gavaskar | 221 | 1979 | Ian Bell | 235 | 2011 |
| Rahul Dravid | 217 | 2002 | Wally Hammond | 217 | 1936 |
| Ravi Shastri | 187 | 1990 | Ian Botham | 208 | 1982 |
| Rahul Dravid | 146* | 2011 | Michael Vaughan | 195 | 2002 |
| Vijay Mercant | 128 | 1946 | Kevin Pietersen | 175 | 2011 |
| Anil Kumble | 110* | 2007 | David Gower | 157* | 1990 |
| Kapil Dev | 110 | 1990 | Stan Worthington | 128 | 1936 |
| Geoffrey Boycott | 125 | 1979 | |||
| David Sheppard | 119 | 1952 | |||
| Allan Lamb | 107 | 1982 | |||
| Kevin Pietersen | 101 | 2007 | |||
Five-for at The Oval: Gubby Allen has the best bowling figures with a seven-wicket haul in 1936. For India, Harbhajan Singh picked a five-wicket haul in the draw in 2002 but Chandrasekhar’s six for 138 will remain the most memorable bowling performance. It is the best performance by an Indian spinner in England.
| India | Figures | Year | England | Figures | Year |
| Mohammad Nissar | 5/120 | 1936 | Jim Sims | 5/73 | 1936 |
| Surendranath | 5/75 | 1959 | Gubby Allen | 7/80 | 1936 |
| Bhagwat Chandrasekhar | 6/138 | 1971 | Alec Bedser | 5/41 | 1952 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 5/115 | 2002 | Fred Trueman | 5/48 | 1952 |
| Ray Illingworth | 5/70 | 1971 | |||
| Graeme Swann | 6/106 | 2011 |
Partnerships: England too rule the records in terms of partnerships between the two teams at The Oval. Once again in 2011, Pietersen and Bell put on a mammoth 350-run stand, the first 300+ stand between the two teams at The Oval.
| India | ||||
| Partnership | Batsman 1 | Batsman 2 | Runs | Year |
| 1st | Chetan Chauhan | Sunil Gavaskar | 213 | 1979 |
| 2nd | Sunil Gavaskar | Dilip Vengsarkar | 153 | 1979 |
| 4th | Amit Mishra | Sachin Tendulkar | 144 | 2011 |
| England | ||||
| Partnership | Batsman 1 | Batsman 2 | Runs | Year |
| 3rd | Ian Bell | Kevin Pietersen | 350 | 2011 |
| 4th | Wally Hammond | Stan Worthington | 266 | 1936 |
| 4th | Ian Botham | Allan Border | 176 | 1982 |
Catch all the coverage of India’s tour to England here
(Abhijit Banare is reporter at CricketCountry. He is an avid quizzer and loves to analyse and dig out interesting facts which allows him to learn something new every day. Apart from cricket he also likes to keep a sharp eye on Indian politics, and can be followed on Twitter and blog)