Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium, a happy hunting ground for England

Alastair Cook’s England team have a very good record at the Wankhede Stadium wher e the fourth Test of the series will be played. England have won three and lost three in seven Tests

The last time a Test match was played at the Wankhede Stadium, hardly were any Indians bothered about the outcome of the match. The greater concern was Sachin Tendulkar walking out to take guard for one last time. India won the game within three days and bagged the two-match Test series against West Indies 2-0.

England cricket captain Alastair Cook (C) speaks with team members during training at the Wankhede stadium ahead of the fourth Test match that starts from Thursday. (AFP)

Three years later, India lead by a similar margin, albeit in a five-match series against England. And for once, the stats are not much in favour of the host team.

All even at Wankhede

India have won 10, lost seven and drawn seven in 24 Test matches played at this venue. But it’s all square against England where they’ve won three and lost three with the other Test ending in a draw. A win in the next game, which starts on Thursday, will give the No 1 Test side an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series but England will want to keep their hopes high given they have won the last two matches played at the Wankhede.

England’s big wins

Run machines

In the last 50 years, 14 England batsmen have made more than 300 runs in a series in India. Joe Root is one shy of that mark while Alastair Cook (246) can replicate the feat once again. Ben Stokes (267) and Jonny Bairstow (237) are also likely to join the club. No wonder Flintoff chose this ground to take off his shirt and celebrate after England won the sixth ODI of the 2002 series by five runs.

Hosts eye fifth series win in a row

However, it’s not going to be easy for the visitors with India eyeing their fifth straight series win in a row. Only once in 84 years has an Indian team achieved that — between 2008 and 2010.

Virat Kohli set to join 4,000-run club

Virat Kohli can also join a special club with the Test captain 41 runs away from reaching the 4000 mark in Test cricket. In terms of the number of innings played to reach the figures, Kohli would be the sixth-fastest Indian with Virender Sehwag (79 innings) leading the list. The Indian skipper has scored 3959 runs at an average of 48.28 in 88 innings of the 51Test matches so far.

With inputs from S Pervez Qaiser