5 Test records that were broken in 2016

While the usual tirade of Test cricket’s death, and the ill effects of T20s, continues to be a healthy topic of debate, 2016 gave enough evidence that the longest format is fairly hale and hearty, proving to be a year of records and milestones. Despite the World T20, and IPL and several of his sister leagues sprouting up, Test cricket held its own, although more innovative methods like day-night need to be incorporated to ensure that it doesn’t slip into coma.

Here are five Test records that were broken this year:

#5 Brendon McCullum’s final flourish

His eccentric batting and astounding fielding/keeping skills garnered a huge fan base in his decade-long international career, but McCullum made sure that he left the longest format with an indelible mark. He mashed his free-spirit into the conventional whites, scoring the fastest hundred ever in Test cricket, that too, in his last ever Test.

He made a mockery of the Australian bowlers in his 101 Test, which is also a record for most consecutive Tests for a nation, beating AB De Villiers’ streak of 98 matches in one stretch.

Having face two balls fewer, he usurped the joint record for the fastest hundred held by Vivian Richards and Misbah Ul Haq. On a lively pitch, and with the score reading 32-3, McCullum cared for nothing, carting the bowlers all over the park to give one final display of his madcap strokeplay.

#4 Alastair Cook closing down on Sachin Tendulkar’s records

The numbers stacked up by Sachin Tendulkar over a 24-year career might seem unassailable at the moment, but England captain Alastair Cook is surely set to give the Little Master a challenge or two. In ten straight years, Cook’s relentless hunger for runs has seen him break records aplenty, quicker than others.

The 10,000 run mark, introduced first by Sunil Gavaskar, has since been broken by eleven gentlemen. Cook became the youngest, at 31 years and 157 days, to join the club, beating the previous record set by Tendulkar, at 31 years and 326 days, against Pakistan in Kolkata, 2005. He, however, took 229 innings to reach the landmark, while the Indian batsman took 195.

New Zealand’s Kane Williamson also looks set to challenge a few long-standing records in the future. He became the youngest, at 25 years and 91 days, to score a century against all nine-Test playing nations. If that was not convincing enough, he has taken the fewest number of innings to get to the milestone.

#3 Misbah-Ul-Haq’s busting all myths about age

The Pakistan Test captain must be drinking from the fountain of youth, for there seems to be nothing that is slowing down the 42-year old from turning out for his national side. As a testament to his longevity and will-power, he became the oldest captain to score a Test century, during his effort against England at Lord’s, beating the landmark set by Bob Simpson in 1977-78. He also became the sixth oldest to score a century in Tests.

He also went past Inzamam-Ul-Haq for most centuries by a Pakistani captain, also becoming the first captain to score five Test centuries after turning 40.

His veteran partner, Younis Khan, is also proving that age is a mere figure, having compiled the most number of Test tons after the age of 35. Together, these two continue to hold the Pakistani batting together, despite 80 years between them.

#2 Ravichandran Ashwin and Virat Kohli’s year of milestones

The ICC Test cricketer, as well as Cricketer of the Year, were, perhaps, titles fitting enough to highlight how 2016 has been a game-changer for Ashwin, catapulting him to a different level, both with the ball and bat. Amongst a plethora of records, Ashwin became the quickest Indian to garner 200 Test wickets, and the second quickest in the world to do so.

Take a deep breath while you read the records he set in 2016: first bowler to take 50 Test wickets in consecutive years, third most number of five-wicket hauls for India in Tests, most wickets by an Indian in a calendar year at home, third Indian to score more than 500 runs and 50 wickets in a Test, the list goes on.

His captain, Virat Kohli, also had a watershed year, scoring as many as three double tons in the year, becoming the first cricketer to score a double hundred in three consecutive series. This was the fifth time, and the first time an Indian scored three double centuries in a calendar year. As a captain, he set a new record for most unbeaten matches for the Indian team in Tests, having last lost a match in August 2015 in Sri Lanka.

#1 Karun Nair’s jaw-dropping knock

Records went in a tizzy when Karun Nair took the English attack by the scruff of the neck at Chepauk, with an authoritative innings rarely on display in one’s debut series. While others slow down on approaching a big score, Nair motored along, leaving several legends past him on his way to a triple hundred, only the second Indian to have ever done so.

In doing this, he took the fewest Tests ever to score a triple century, becoming the first person to do so in his debut series. He also became the sixth youngest to score a 300, and only the third after Bob Simpson and Garry Sobers to convert his maiden hundred into a triple. It was also the highest maiden Test score by an Indian, beating Vinod Kambli’s 224.