The Indian Cricket Team defeated England in the 4th Test Match held at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, Gujarat to win the Match & consequently the 2020-21 Test series by 3-1. With the win, India has yet again retained the Anthony de Mello Trophy.
- Player of the Series – Ravichandran Ashwin
- The Anthony de Mello Trophy is awarded to the winner of the England-India Test Cricket series held in India. The trophy was already with the Indian Team as they had won the Test Series held in 2016-17.
- Having won the series, India has now qualified for the World Test Championship finals to be held at Southampton’s Ageas Bowl Stadium, UK (shifted from Lord’s Cricket Ground due to Pandemic) from June 18-22,2021. India will play New Zealand in the finals.
England’s Tour of India 2020-21
The Test Series is part of the England Cricket Team’s visit to India to play 4-match Test series, 3 One Day Internationals (3 ODIs) & 5 Twenty20 Internationals (5 T20Is).
- The Test Series took place at 2 Grounds – MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, Tamil Nadu (2 Tests) & the newly inaugurated Narendra Modi Stadium at Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Narendra Modi Stadium – World’s Largest Cricket Stadium
The World’s Largest Cricket Stadium at Motera, Ahmedabad, Gujarat was renamed Narendra Modi Stadium (the previous name was Sardar Patel Cricket Stadium) and was inaugurated by the President of India Ram Nath Kovind. It is owned by the Gujarat Cricket Association.
- Narendra Modi stadium is part of Sardar Patel Sports Enclave.
- The stadium was originally constructed in 1983. In 2015, it was demolished and was rebuilt at an estimated cost of INR 800 Crore.
- It has a capacity of 1, 32, 000 spectators (previous capacity 49, 000).
- In 1983, the First International match held in this stadium. The 1st match Played is Test Match between India and West Indies in 1983.
- The previous Largest Cricket Stadium in the world was Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia.
Fact
It is the 1st time that the field of an Indian Cricket Stadium has been fitted with LED lights.
Records & Highlights
Ishant Sharma, an Indian Fast bowler became the 6th Indian & the 3rd Indian Fast Bowler after Kapil Dev & Zaheer Khan to take 300 wickets in Test Cricket. The other 6 Indians are Kumble, Kapil Dev, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh & Zaheer Khan.
- He also became the only 2nd Indian fast bowler after Kapil Dev to represent India in 100 Tests.
- He is the Fourth Indian Bowler after Anil Kumble, Kapil Dev & Harbhajan Singh to achieve the milestone.
Ravichandran Ashwin – His Total wicket tally in the series was 32 wickets.
- He became the 1st Indian Cricketer to pick 30 wickets or more in a Test series on Two separate occasions.
- Ashwin became the 1st Bowler in Test Cricket to take 200 wickets against left-handed batsmen.
- Ravichandran Ashwin became the 2nd Fastest Bowler to take 400 Test Wickets. He took 77 Tests to achieve the feat. The First Fastest Bowler is former Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan who took 72 Tests to achieve the record.
Joe Root – England Test Cricket Team captain Joe Root became the 1st Batsmen in the history of Test Cricket to score 200 in his 100th Test.
Rankings
ICC Test Batsmen Rankings
In the latest ICC Test Rankings for Batsmen (as of February 27, 2021),
- Indian Captain Virat Kohli was pushed to the 5th spot, as England Captain Joe Root took the 4th spot.
- In the ICC Test Rankings for Bowlers (as of February 27, 2021), Indian Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took the 3rd Position.
ICC T20I Rankings
In the Latest Rankings released by ICC for T20Is (as of February 25, 2021),
- Indian Batsman K L Rahul climbed to the 6th spot
- While the Captain of the Indian Cricket Team, Virat Kohli gained one spot to be at 6th.
About the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI):
President – Sourav Ganguly
Headquarters – Wankhede stadium, Mumbai, Maharashtra
