A bowler's [[economy rate (cricket)|economy rate]] is the total number of runs they have conceded divided by the number of [[over (cricket)|overs]] they have bowled.<ref name="glossary"/>
A bowler's [[economy rate (cricket)|economy rate]] is the total number of runs they have conceded divided by the number of [[over (cricket)|overs]] they have bowled.<ref name="glossary"/>
English bowler [[William Attewell]], who played 10 matches for England between 1884 and 1892, holds the Test record for the best career economy rate with 1.31. India's [[Bapu Nadkarni]], with a rate of 1.67 runs per over conceded over his 41-match Test career, is fourth on the list.<ref>{{cite news|title=Test records – Best career economy rate|url=http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283265.html|publisher=ESPNcricinfo|access-date=20 June 2020}}</ref>
The top five records are listed for each category, except for the team wins, losses, draws and ties and the partnership records. Tied records for fifth place are also included. Explanations of the general symbols and cricketing terms used in the list are given below. Specific details are provided in each category where appropriate. All records include matches played for India only, and are correct as of January 2022[update].
Key
Symbol
Meaning
†
Player or umpire is currently active in Test cricket
*
Player remained not out or partnership remained unbroken
As of March 2024[update], India played 579 Test matches resulting in 178 victories and defeats each, 222 draws and 1 tie for an overall winning percentage of 30.74.[7]
A Test match is won when one side has scored more runs than the total runs scored by the opposing side during their two innings. If both sides have completed both their allocated innings and the side that fielded last has the higher aggregate of runs, it is known as a win by runs. This indicates the number of runs that they had scored more than the opposing side. If one side scores more runs in a single innings than the total runs scored by the other side in both their innings, it is known as a win by innings and runs. If the side batting last wins the match, it is known as a win by wickets, indicating the number of wickets that were still to fall.[16]
A run is the basic means of scoring in cricket. A run is scored when the batsman hits the ball with his bat and with his partner runs the length of 22 yards (20 m) of the pitch. Alternatively, a player can score multiple runs by hitting the aforementioned ball out of the boundary rope for 4 or 6 runs.[21]
India's Sachin Tendulkar has scored the most runs in Test cricket with 15,921.
Last updated: 6 February 2024. Qualification: Min 20 innings batted at position
Most half-centuries
A half-century is a score of between 50 and 99 runs. Statistically, once a batsman's score reaches 100, it is no longer considered a half-century but a century. Sachin Tendulkar has scored the most half-centuries in Test cricket with 68.
Qualification: 2,000 balls. Last updated: 20 June 2020[130]
Best career strike rate
A bowler's strike rate is the total number of balls they have bowled divided by the number of wickets they have taken.[90]
As with the career average above, the top bowler with the best Test career strike rate is George Lohmann with strike rate of 34.1 balls per wicket. India's Jasprit Bumrah is the highest-ranked Indian bowler on this list.[131]
A ten-wicket haul refers to a bowler taking ten or more wickets in a match over two innings.
As with the five-wicket hauls above, Anil Kumble is not only behind Muralitharan, Warne and Hadlee, he is also behind Rangana Herath of Sri Lanka in taking the most ten-wicket hauls in Test cricket.[135]
The worst figures in a single innings in Test cricket came in the third Test between the West Indies at home to Pakistan in 1958. Pakistan's Khan Mohammad returned figures of 0/259 from his 54 overs in the second innings of the match.[136][137] The worst figures by an Indian is 0/187 that came off the bowling of E. A. S. Prasanna in the first test of the India's tour of England in 1967.[138]
The worst figures in a match in Test cricket were taken by South Africa's Imran Tahir in the second Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval in November 2012. He returned figures of 0/180 from his 23 overs in the first innings and 0/80 off 14 in the third innings for a total of 0/260 from 37 overs.[140] He claimed the record in his final over when two runs came from it – enough for him to pass the previous record of 0/259, set 54 years prior.[141]
In cricket, a hat-trick occurs when a bowler takes three wickets with consecutive deliveries. The deliveries may be interrupted by an over bowled by another bowler from the other end of the pitch or the other team's innings, but must be three consecutive deliveries by the individual bowler in the same match. Only wickets attributed to the bowler count towards a hat-trick; run outs do not count.
In Test cricket history there have been just 44 hat-tricks, the first achieved by Fred Spofforth for Australia against England in 1879. In 1912, Australian Jimmy Matthews achieved the feat twice in one game against South Africa. The only other players to achieve two hat-tricks are Australia's Hugh Trumble, against England in 1902 and 1904, Pakistan's Wasim Akram, in separate games against Sri Lanka in 1999, and England's Stuart Broad.
The wicket-keeper is a specialist fielder who stands behind the stumps being guarded by the batsman on strike and is the only member of the fielding side allowed to wear gloves and leg pads.[148]
Most career dismissals
A wicket-keeper can be credited with the dismissal of a batsman in two ways, caught or stumped. A fair catch is taken when the ball is caught fully within the field of play without it bouncing after the ball has touched the striker's bat or glove holding the bat,[149][150] while a stumping occurs when the wicket-keeper puts down the wicket while the batsman is out of his ground and not attempting a run.[151]
India's MS Dhoni is fifth in taking most dismissals in Test cricket as a designated wicket-keeper.[152]
Bert Oldfield, Australia's fifth-most capped wicket-keeper, holds the record for the most stumpings in Test cricket with 52. Indian glovemen Syed Kirmani and MS Dhoni are both equal third on 38.[156]
Four wicket-keepers have taken seven dismissals in a single innings in a Test match—Wasim Bari of Pakistan in 1979, Englishman Bob Taylor in 1980, New Zealand's Ian Smith in 1991 and most recently West Indian gloveman Ridley Jacobs against Australia in 2000.[158]
The feat of taking 6 dismissals in an innings has been achieved by 24 wicket-keepers on 32 occasions including 4 Indians.[159]
Three wicket-keepers have made 11 dismissals in a Test match, Englishman Jack Russell in 1995, South African AB de Villiers in 2013 and most recently India's Rishabh Pant against Australia in 2018.[161]
The feat of making 10 dismissals in a match has been achieved by 4 wicket-keepers on 4 occasions with Wriddhiman Saha being the only Indian.[162]
Caught is one of the nine methods a batsman can be dismissed in cricket.[c] The majority of catches are caught in the slips, located behind the batsman, next to the wicket-keeper, on the off side of the field. Most slip fielders are top order batsmen.[168][169]
India's Rahul Dravid holds the record for the most catches in Test cricket by a non-wicket-keeper with 209, followed by Mahela Jayawardene of Sri Lanka on 205 and South African Jacques Kallis with 200. Ricky Ponting is the highest ranked Australian in fourth, securing 196 catches in his Test career.[166]
India's Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for the most Test matches played with 200, with former captains Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh being joint second with each having represented Australia on 168 occasions.[179]
Former English captainAlastair Cook holds the record for the most consecutive Test matches played with 159. He broke Allan Border's long standing record of 153 matches in June 2018.[181]Sunil Gavaskar, the Indian opener played 106 consecutive Test matches, is fourth. The recently retired New Zealand wicket-keeper-batsman Brendon McCullum, who is fifth on the list with 101 matches, is the highest ranked cricketer who never missed a Test match during his playing career. Rahul Dravid, in ninth on 93, is the highest ranked Indian player to achieve the feat.[182]
Graeme Smith, who led the South African cricket team from 2003 to 2014, holds the record for the most matches played as captain in Test cricket with 109. Virat Kohli who led the side for seven years from 2014 to 2022 is sixth on the list with 68 matches.[183]
The youngest player to play in a Test match is claimed to be Hasan Raza at the age of 14 years and 227 days. Making his debut for Pakistan against Zimbabwe on 24 October 1996, there is some doubt as to the validity of Raza's age at the time.[188] The youngest Indian to play Test cricket was Sachin Tendulkar who at the age of 16 years and 205 days debuted in the first Test of the series against Pakistan in November 1989.[189]
England all-rounder Wilfred Rhodes is the oldest player to appear in a Test match. Playing in the fourth Test against the West Indies in 1930 at Sabina Park, in Kingston, Jamaica, he was aged 52 years and 165 days on the final day's play. The oldest Indian Test player is Vinoo Mankad who was aged 41years and 300 days when he represented India for the final time in the fifth Test of the 1959 tour by West Indies at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, then known as Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium.[193]
In cricket, two batsmen are always present at the crease batting together in a partnership. This partnership will continue until one of them is dismissed, retires or the innings comes to a close.
Highest partnerships by wicket
A wicket partnership describes the number of runs scored before each wicket falls. The first wicket partnership is between the opening batsmen and continues until the first wicket falls. The second wicket partnership then commences between the not out batsman and the number three batsman. This partnership continues until the second wicket falls. The third wicket partnership then commences between the not out batsman and the new batsman. This continues down to the tenth wicket partnership. When the tenth wicket has fallen, there is no batsman left to partner so the innings is closed.
An asterisk (*) signifies an unbroken partnership (i.e. neither of the batsmen was dismissed before either the end of the allotted overs or the required score being reached). Last updated: 21 July 2023[198]
Umpiring records
Most matches umpired
An umpire in cricket is a person who officiates the match according to the Laws of Cricket. Two umpires adjudicate the match on the field, whilst a third umpire has access to video replays, and a fourth umpire looks after the match balls and other duties. The records below are only for on-field umpires.
Aleem Dar of Pakistan holds the record for the most Test matches umpired with 130. The current active Dar set the record in December 2019 overtaking Steve Bucknor from the West Indies mark of 128 matches.[199] They are followed by South Africa's Rudi Koertzen who officiated in 108. The most experienced Indian is Srinivas Venkataraghavan who is tenth on the list with 73 Test matches umpired.[200]
^"Law 33 – Caught". Marylebone Cricket Club. Archived from the original on 29 December 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
^"Law 5 – The Bat". Marylebone Cricket Club. Archived from the original on 29 December 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018. Laws 5.6.2.2 and 5.6.2.3 state that the hand or the glove holding the bat shall be regarded as the ball striking or touching the bat.
^"Law 39 – Stumped". Marylebone Cricket Club. Archived from the original on 29 December 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.