New Delhi. These two batsmen of world cricket always liked playing against Team India. Although he was counted among the best batsmen in the world, his performance against the Indian team improved even more. Both of them started their Test career against India and scored centuries. Not only this, both of them scored hundreds in their last test against India also.
The story of his ‘domination’ against Indian bowlers does not end here. Both the batsmen also made their highest test score against Team India. He recorded a higher average against India than his overall batting average in his Test career. Here we are talking about Michael Clarke of Australia and Alastair Cook of England, both of them had an international career of about 12 years.
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Both started their test career against India
Among both the batsmen, Michael Clarke’s career started first. In October 2004, he played his first Test against India in Bengaluru and in his first innings he indicated that he would become a big player by scoring 151 runs in 248 balls with the help of 18 fours and four sixes. However, he could score only 17 runs in the second innings. Australia won this test by 217 runs and Clarke was declared player of the match.
Similarly, left-handed opener Alastair Cook also made his Test debut against India in Nagpur in March 2006. After scoring 60 runs in the first innings of the Test, he scored unbeaten 104 runs (243 balls, 12 fours) in the second innings. This match ended in a draw.
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Scored a century even in the last test against India
Clarke played his last Test against India in December 2014 in Adelaide and scored 128 runs (163 balls, 18 fours) in the first innings and 7 runs in the second innings. Australia won the test by 48 runs. The following year, in August 2015, Clarke ended his Test career by playing a Test against England at the Oval.
Talking about Cook, he played his last Test against India at the Oval in December 2018. Making the Test memorable, he bid farewell to international cricket with pride by scoring 71 runs in the first innings and 147 runs (286 runs, 14 fours) in the second innings.
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Has played big innings against India
Both Clarke and Cook made their highest test scores against India. Clarke has scored a triple century in Test cricket. This was made in the Sydney Test against India in January 2012. Clarke also captained the Australian team in the match. He scored unbeaten 329 runs in 468 balls with the help of 39 fours and one six.
Cook also came very close to scoring a triple century against India. Unfortunately he had to be out on the score of 294. In the Birmingham Test of August 2011, he scored these runs with the help of 33 fours in 545 balls and became the victim of Ishant Sharma. In both the Tests in which Clarke and Cook made their highest scores, Team India lost by an innings margin.
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Average against India better than overall test average
Clarke has scored 8643 runs (28 centuries) at an average of 49.10 in his career of 115 Tests. Against India, he scored 2049 runs in 22 tests at an average of 53.92, which included 7 centuries. Talking about Alastair Cook, he scored 12472 runs in 161 tests at an average of 45.35, which included 33 centuries. Against India, he has scored 2431 runs with the help of 7 centuries in 30 tests and his average is 47.66.
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Both captained their country
Michael Clarke and Alastair Cook both captained their country. Right-handed batsman Clarke was the captain of Australia in 47 Tests and during this he scored 3946 runs at an average of 51.92 which included 14 centuries. On the other hand, Cook captained England in 59 tests. During his captaincy, he scored 4844 runs at an average of 46.57, which included 12 centuries.
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Tags: Alastair Cook, Michael Clarke, Team india
FIRST PUBLISHED: March 20, 2024, 06:53 IST