Test Stats: Best Bowling Figures vs India

India have had some fine batters, but their struggles are well-known in overseas conditions. As the ball gets a bit of movement or bowlers get an extra bounce, Indian batters tend to lose their wickets more often than not.

And even on home soil, they seem to have trouble against overseas bowlers, especially against spinners. This has resulted in the opposition bowlers taking a bulk of wickets to register some of the best Test figures against the Indian side.

On that note, here are the top 10 best bowling figures (innings) recorded against India in Test cricket.

Best Bowling Figures vs India in Tests

Key Insights

10: Ajaz Patel has registered the best bowling figures against India in a Test innings. He picked up a perfect 10-wicket haul in the first innings of the 2021 Wankhede Test. With that, Patel became the third bowler to take the opposition’s all 10 wickets in a single Test innings.

14: Patel also recorded the best match figures. He added four scalps in the second essay to finish with match figures of 14/225.

0.63: The economy rate of Australia’s Ernie Toshack, the lowest by a bowler with a five-wicket haul against India. To shack ran through India’s lower order in what was the first-ever Test match between both sides in 1947. He picked up five wickets in just 2.3 overs while conceding only two runs.

3/240: The innings figures of Rangana Herath, the most expensive by a bowler against India. The former Sri Lankan spinner had a forgettable outing as he gave away 240 runs while taking three wickets in the 2009 Brabourne Test. 

9: Nathan Lyon has picked up the most five-wicket hauls against India in Tests. The Australian spinner has taken nine Test fifers against the Indian team. Here’s a blog on what makes Lyon special.

8: The number of bowlers who have racked up two or more 10-wicket match hauls against India.

6/35: The bowling figures of Steve O’Keefe in the second and fourth innings of the 2017 Pune Test. He is the only bowler to have identical five-plus wicket hauls in both innings of a Test against India.

25: The number of bowlers who have taken five-wicket hauls in both innings of a Test match against India. Pakistan’s Saqlain Mushtaq is the only one to do so twice, that too in back-to-back matches in 1999.

4: So Mushtaq ended up with four consecutive fifers, the joint-third most by a bowler in all Test cricket. Apart from Mushtaq, Imran Khan also took four back-to-back five-wicket hauls against India across three Tests in the 1982/83 series.

Check: Instances of ‘Four Wickets in One Over’ in International cricket