Amid Ruins of Six Zeroes, Mahendra Singh Dhoni Completes 1,000 Test Runs vs England

On the day when India joined South Africa and Bangladesh to record most number of ducks in a single innings of a Test (six), Indian skippper Mahendra Singh Dhoni became the 11th batsman and eighth wicketkeeper to score 1000 Test runs against England. Dhoni achieved this feat in the course of his brave knock of 71 against Alastair Cook's men on the first day of the Old Trafford match on Thursday. (4th Test Day 1 Highlights)

The Indian captain needed 23 to get to the landmark before the start of the penultimate Test in the five-match series and he went on to play a stellar role, after walking in to bat with his side reeling at 8/4 within the first six overs. Dhoni was in the middle inside the first ten overs, only for the first time in his 87-Test career. The last time he had come out to bat that early was against South Africa at Motera back in April, 2008, when India were reduced to 30/4 off 7.3 overs. (Scorecard)

The captain's knock helped him join the likes of Sachin Tendulkar (2535), Sunil Gavaskar (2483), Rahul Dravid (1950), Gundappa Viswanath (1880), Dilip Vengsarkar (1589) and Ravi Shastri (1026) as only the seventh Indian to break into the 1000-run barrier against England in Tests. (India's batting a joke: Farokh Engineer to NDTV)

England has traditionally been a difficult place for Indian batsmen, with the prodigious swing and movement, but Dhoni has played some gutsy knocks ever since he showed his prowess with an unbeaten half-century to save the Lord's Test on his first tour in the country in 2007. His 32nd fifty today helped Dhoni become the ninth batsman to get past 600 runs against England in England as he forced his way into an illustrious club, already occupied by Tendulkar (1575), Dravid (1376), Gavaskar (1152), Vengsarkar (960), Sourav Ganguly (915), Viswanath (858), Kapil Dev (638) and Mohammed Azharuddin (625). (Watch Sachin's Sydney knock: Gavaskar's advice to Kohli)

The well-paced 71 was Dhoni's seventh fifty in England and he has now equalled South African John Waite as the wicketkeeper with most half-centuries against England in England in Tests. This was Dhoni's 11th Test fifty against England (home and away).

Dhoni, with 1048 runs (ave.32.75) in 20 Tests, still has a long way to go before breaking Rodney Marsh's record as the highest run-getter by a wicketkeeper against England in Tests. The former Australian glover has an aggregate of 1633 (ave.27.21) in 42 Tests. 

Other interesting numbers from Day 1 at Old Trafford:

# Stuart Broad (6/25) has produced his best bowling performance in a Test innings vs India, bettering the six for 46 at Nottingham in 2011.  Broad's figures at Old Trafford are his third best in Tests, behind the seven for 44 vs New Zealand at Lord's in 2013 and seven for 72 vs West Indies at Lord's in 2012.

# Broad's second five-wicket haul vs India is his 12th in Tests.

# Broad's outstanding figures of six for 25 are the third best by an England bowler against India at Old Trafford, Manchester - the top two being 8 for 31 by Fred Trueman in 1952 and 7 for 52 by Alec Bedser in 1946.

# Gautam Gambhir is averaging 15.14 in seven Test innings in England - his sequence of scores being 15, 22, 38, 14, 10 & 3 in 2011 and four today.

# Murali Vijay has recorded his second duck in Tests - his first vs England.

# Playing in his 39th Test innings, Cheteshwar Pujara has registered his first duck.

# For the first time in a Test series, Virat Kohli has recorded two ducks.

# Kohli has posted two ducks vs England and one each vs Australia and the West Indies in Tests.

# Kohli is averaging 14.42 in Tests in England - his aggregate being 101 in seven innings.  This is his worst performance in a Test series.

# Kohli has been a mediocre performer in Tests vs England - his tally being 289 in eight Tests at an average of 22.23, including a hundred.

# In 15 away Tests, Kohli has averaged 35.66 as against his home average of 50.52 in 13 Tests.  

#  For the second time in the history of India's Test cricket, three batsmen out of the top four have been dismissed without scoring - the first instance being in the second innings of the Leeds Test in 1952. The top three batsmen got out for ducks - both the openers, Pankaj Roy & Datta Gaekwad and one-down, Madhav Mantri.

# Four wickets down for only eight runs is India's third worst score - the two worst being without any score vs England at Leeds in 1952 (second innings) and six runs vs England at The Oval in 1952 (first innings).

# For the second time in India's innings, four batsmen out of the top seven have been dismissed without scoring - the first instance being in India's innings of 165 vs England at Leeds in 1952.

(Stats courtesy: Rajesh Kumar)