The Caribbean off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall, who is the heaviest cricketer in Test cricket history, broke a record of the Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Wednesday (27th November), the day one of the only Test against Afghanistan at Lucknow.
After winning the toss, Windies won the toss and decided to field first. Afghanistan managed a good start as they were once batting on 84/1. But then, they lost their next batsmen in very quick time as they went down to 98/6 and then 111/7.
The tail-enders fought hard to stretch that innings. Finally, Afghanistan were bundled out for just 187 runs. Opener Javed Ahmadi scored the highest runs for his team as the right-handed batsman scored 39 runs. Also, the tail-ender batsmen, wicketkeeper-batsman Afsar Zazai and debutant Amir Hamza scored crucial 32 and 34 runs respectively.
The no.3 batsman Ihsanullah (24 runs) was the only other batsman in that innings to reach the 20-run mark.
Rahkeem Cornwall managed the bowling figures of 25.3-5-75-7
The 26-year-old Rahkeem Cornwall played the major role for Windies to bowl out the Asian side cheaply. His off-spin destroyed the planning of Afghanistan batsmen. Playing only his second Test match, Cornwall managed his first five-wicket haul in international cricket and finished that innings with the bowling figures of 25.3-5-75-7. It is now the best bowling figures in a Test innings in India in 2019. In fact, it is the best bowling figures in a Test innings in India in last two calendar years (from 2018 to 2019).
Before him, Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was holding the record of best bowling figures in a Test innings in India from 2018. During the second innings of the Visakhapatnam Test against South Africa in last October, Ravichandran Ashwin had the bowling figures of 46.2-11-145-7.
During the Kingston Test against India in last August-September, Rahkeem Cornwall made his international debut. During the first innings of that match, Cornwall had the bowling figures of 41-10-105-3. However, he had the wicketless bowling figures (23-7-68-0) during India’s second innings in that Test.