From Dhoni to Kohli, here are some stat highlights from fifth ODI between Sri Lanka and India

100 – ODI stumpings for MS Dhoni, the most in ODIs and first in three digit figures. He surpasses Kumar Sangakkara’s tally of 99 ODI stumpings to top the table. Overall, it was his 161^st stumpings in ODIs, again the most by any player in this format.

15 – Wickets for Jasprit Bumrah in this series, the most by any pacer in a bilateral series of five or less matches. In such series, only two bowers Amit Mishra (18) and Rashid Khan (16) have picked most wickets than Bumrah, both being spinners.

2 – Number of times, Indian pacers picking five-for in any series or tournament. Alongside Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar had picked five wickets in third game. The only other instance of picking such five-for was in 1999 World Cup when Robin Singh and Venkatesh Prasad had done such job.

30 – Number of ODI hundreds for Virat Kohli, joint second-most in the history of game with Australian Ricky Ponting. Now only Sachin Tendulkar (49) is ahead of Kohli in ODIs for most hundreds. Kohli became quickest in the list to score 30 ODI hundreds. He took 189 innings whreras Tendulkar took 267 innings and Ponting took 349 innings.

1 – Sri Lanka’s first whitewash at home in a bilateral series of five or more games. Overall, this is their third whitewash, second in this year (against South Africa) and second against India.

6 – Number of whitewashes by India in a bilateral series five or more matches and second against Sri Lanka. Kohli was the captain in three of these whitewashes. The other three were; two by MS Dhoni and one by Gautam Gambhir.

First ever clean sweep in overseas Test series by India, average dominance in both bat and bowl and many more. Stats highlights from Test series between Sri Lanka.

1 First time India have whitewashed an away Test series comprising three or more Tests. Overall it is India’s fifth whitewash in a Test series of three or more Tests.

2 Number of times Sri Lanka whitewashed at home in a three or more Test match series. Before this, Australia whitewashed them in 2004; overall this their sixth whitewash in a three or more Test match series.

3 Number of 300-plus first innings lead by India in this series, their most in any series. 309 in first Test, 439 in second and 352 in third Test. India had got two such 300-plus lead before; against Sri Lanka at home in 2009-10 and against West Indies last year.

487 India’s lowest score in a completed innings in this series, their highest lowest in a three or more Test match series. Their previous highest lowest score in completed innings in a three or more Test match series was 485 against Sri Lanka in 1997-98. On other hand, Sri Lanka’s highest score in this series was 386.

45 Test matches taken by Ravichandran Ashwin to complete his 250 Test wickets, the quickest by any bowler in Tests. Dennis Lillee had taken 250 Test wickets in 48 match which was the previous record in this category.

5 Hardik Pandya became fifth Indian player to score maiden first-class hundred in Tests. His previous best score in Tests was 90 for Baroda against Railways in 2015. Vijay Manjrekar, Kapil Dev, Ajay Ratra and Harbhajan Singh are other players to score their maiden first-class hundred in Tests.

86 Balls taken by Hardik Pandya to complete his hundred, the second fastest by Indian in away Tests. Virender Sehwag’s 78-balls fifty in the fastest by Indian in away Tests.

7 Overseas Test wins for Virat Kohli as a captain, second-most by Indian captain after Sourav Ganguly who had 11 such Test wins. Kohli surpassed MS Dhoni’s six Test wins in overseas Tests.

Number one Test bowler and all-rounder has been suspended under ICC Code of Conduct for Player and Player Support Personnel breaching article 2.2.8 on accumulating six demerit points in second Test against Sri Lanka and that raised the question over ICC’s demerit points system.

Last ball of the day three’s play, Jadeja to Pushpakumara, Jadeja throws towards Wriddhiman Saha which was so closed to Pushpakumara who was just defended that ball and was in no mood to take a run. The throw was in a “dangerous manner” which costs Jadeja a suspension for Pallekele Test. Wait it is not just a Test match suspension he also costs Rs. 22.5 lakhs (50% of match fees from SSC Test and one full Test match fee). By this incident he crossed six demerit points (three for second Test incident and three for his previous incident in October against England where he received for running on pitch under ICC Code of Conduct article point number 2.2.11)

So before going in to depth, let’s understand first what are article 2.2.8 and article 2.2.11

• 2.8 – Throwing a ball (or any other item of cricket equipment such as a water bottle) at or near a Player, Player Support Personnel, Umpire, Match Referee or any other third person in an inappropriate and/or dangerous manner during an International Match
• 2.11 – Causing avoidable damage to the pitch during an International Match in breach of Law 42.13 or 42.14 (as applicable) of the Laws of Cricket, as modified by ICC Standard Test Match, ODI and Twenty20 International Match Playing Conditions clause 42.

According to ICC press release, this throw was “dangerous” and misses batsman narrowly. Such kind of throws is immature and against the spirit of game when batsman had no intention to take a run. Jadeja reached six demit points in second Test following his three demit points in October last year against England. If he reached the next threshold of eight points within a 24-month period, then they will be converted into four suspension points; meaning he could be suspended for two Test matches or four ODIs or four T20Is.

This was not the first instance in this series when such dangerous and unnecessary throws were seen by umpires. Virat Kohli India’s captain seen throwing such “dangerous” throw, each in both the Tests. Both throws came from midwicket towards Kusal Mendis and missed narrowly when he had no intension to take a run. On both the occasions, Mendis brought umpire’s attention against throw but umpires didn’t deem it in “a dangerous manner”. However Kohli didn’t get any warning or demerit point on the both occasions and this raised the questions over ICC’s objective of Code of Conduct for Player and Player Support Personnel.

Now flash back yourself in India’s previous long home season. Except New Zealand series, it was full of drama and action. Watch the below video.

Here Joe Root throws a ball intensely toward KL Rahul when Rahul had no intension to run. Check it again. What if Rahul could not duck in fractions of second? Can’t imagine. But umpires didn’t see it as dangerous. Not even third umpire Bruce Oxenford. And if you watch Australia series earlier this year you will imagine what intensity had that series. Even there was “brain fade” by opposition captain which deemed to be sportsmanship spirit by match officials and not even warning given to either player. There were no bans; no fine and not even single demit point. And in the recently concluded England-South Africa series, Kagiso Rabada was suspended for a Test for his WORDS which caught in mic.

Simply, the objective is not clear by ICC. You can take help from dressing room on DRS call, you can mouth off anybody off the mic, you can accuse your oppositions avoiding certain words.

The decision of allotting demit points is decided by umpires. Yes, you have seen umpire errors causing big games at crucial time. Being a human being, in a short period of time, we can understand those errors. But what about these demerit points? They have enough time to report match referee where word used are inappropriate or throw is dangerous or not. So when the next a bowler is punished for throwing the ball at a batsman will be debating point.

Ashwin goes past Harbhajan and Jadeja overtook Johnson.

2 Second quickest 150 Test wickets for India by Ravindra Jadeja, His spin partner Ravi Ashwin is the quickest who got there in 29 matches while Jadeja reached today in 32 matches.

32 Test matches taken by Jadeja to complete 150 wickets, the quickest among left-arm bowlers. Mitchel Johnson was the previous quickest in 34 matches. Jadeja is now 19^th left-arm bowler and fifth from India to complete 150 Test wickets.

26 Five-wicket hauls for Ravi Ashwin in Tests, the second most for India in Tests behind his former coach Anil Kumble who has 35 five-for. Ashwin edged past Harbhajan Singh’s 25 five-for tally. He is now quickest to register 26 five-for in terms of matches played. He beats Richard Hadlee who got there in his 63^rd Test match while Ashwin did it in his 51^st match.

3 Third bigger first innings leads gained by India which is 439 in this match. Their other two bigger leads than this are 492 against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2007 and 478 against West Indies at Eden Gardens in 2011.

191 Runs added by Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis for the second wicket in the second innings; highest partnership  for Sri Lanka while following-on and third highest for any wicket against India when following-on.

Since the Champions Trophy, Indian coach appointment has been highlighted topic in cricketing World and the saga coming to its final stage rose questions over BCCIs accountability.

A year since Hon. Supreme Court of India appointed Lodha Committee redirects Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to REFORM its structure and produce transparency between its States Associations and central governing body. The ultimatum for this reform was six months from then. Some of the recommendations Lodha Committee as below in case you don’t remember.

• Each state will have only one vote at BCCI elections
• Ministers and civil servants cannot hold BCCI offices
• BCCI and state office bearers must not be over 70 years old
• No person can hold office at the BCCI and state association simultaneously
• No person can hold more than three, three-year terms as a BCCI official, and no official can serve consecutive terms

After a year, Committee of Administrators (CoA) appoints former office bearers N Shrinivasan and Nirajan Das to take a look at progress or lack of the implementation made by the BCCI in the year. And here the questions every cricket fans are asking. How BCCI can allow such office bearers to take part in this matter? How can they qualify in their respective State association? Though Supreme Court has issued notice against these former BCCI office bearers, but question remains. Who is running BCCI?

In case you don’t know, there are several committees former by Hon. Supreme Court appointed Lodha Committee and BCCI itself. There is Committee of Administrators (CoA) comprised four members (now three) Vinod Rai, Ramchandra Guha (resigned), Vikaram Limaye and Diana Edulji appointed by Hon. Supreme Court. There is Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprised former Indian legends Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. There are office bearers comprised Vinod Rai (President), Rahul Johri (CEO), Rajeev Shukla (Vice President), Amithabh Chaudhary (Secretary) and others.

Out of control Kumble-Kohli rift

When Supreme Court ordered Anurag Thakur to resign from his position in January this year as BCCI chief, the shaky BCCI comes here. There was no one to stop him during his tenure, Delhi office, new Media Manager (Nishant Arora) and many more. The matter could have handled sweetly but there was lack coordination within BCCI. In between that Kumble appointed as India head coach over Ravi Shastri. He handled team India very well in his tenure and Kohli became full time captain.

Rahul Johri, CEO of BCCI who has major control on Indian team was aware of trouble between Captain Virat Kohli and coach Anil Kumble according to sources. Even there were reports states that Kohli had reported BCCI about his ‘uncountable’ with his coach. The CoA who chose to ignore the problems by arguing their job is to impose reforms. The CAC who appointed Kumble as coach didn’t even try to clear the matter as they were team mates at a time. And finally Kohli’s recommendations to appoint Ravi Shastri as a coach.

Whatever though, the BCCI clearly slipped back to having no accountability in its working and failed to handle the matter which goes even worse when Anil Kumble in his resignation mentioned his ‘untenable’ with Kohli. The CAC who endorsed Kumble after Champions Trophy an extension for him could not find time to talk to either parties, more importantly Kohli.

On July 10, CAC completed their interview process of all candidates including Ravi Shastri who applied for this role after Kumble’s resignation on Sachin’s request (assurance). After the interview process, Ganguly and his committee in a press-conference at around 6PM IST said that they required some time to talk to Virat Kohli who is on USA vacation and tell him how coach works.  There was no coordination between that committee. At 11 PM BCCI released a press release stating that Ravi Shastri appointed Head Coach, Zaheer Khan bowling consultant and Rahul Dravid overseas batting consultant.

One of the excerpts from that release says “As part of the process for selecting the Head Coach, the Cricket Advisory Committee comprising of Mr. Sachin Tendulkar, Mr. Sourav Ganguly and Mr. VVS Laxman conducted the interviews and recommended these appointments in the best interest of the Indian Cricket. The term of the appointments will be till the World Cup 2019.”

The role played by CoA in this coach appointment saga has been curious to say. Following July 10 conference, next morning different officials confirmed that they were asked by the CoA to announce the name of the new coach “as earliest”. Ravi Shastri appointed coach same day as late as 11PM.

Acting president Vinod Ray when asked said, “”We need not go into the details of any of those things. There was a process, that process was followed, and the announcement was made well in time.”

U-Turn on Dravid-Zaheer appointment

A week after announcing India’s coaching staff; Ravi Shastri met BCCI officials regarding his support staff and cleared the things in his style. BCCI named Bharat Arun as bowling coach in the press-conference on July 18. The Committee of Administrators (CoA) said that those were just recommendations to take action from CoA with new head coach Ravi Shastri.

For the appointment of Zaheer Khan and Rahul Dravid, new committee formed comprising acting BCCI president CK Khanna, Secretary Amitabh Choudhary and CoA member Diana Edulji to clear their exact roles for the team and decide whether they are needed at all.

Overall, there was no clarity at all in the entire saga of coach appointment. Neither CoA nor CAC coordinated each other. No BCCI office bearers took responsibility to stay clear in the scenario. This clearly indicates that there is no ACTIVE BCCI which has control over Indian cricket, the biggest and richest cricket board in the world. Hope this non-accountability will end soon and we’ll have transparent BCCI in action.