What are the most batting-dominant one-on-one battles in the World Test Championship?
The criterion
A very simple one: In World Test Championship Test matches, the bowler-batter matchups with the highest average. In cases where there is no dismissal (and therefore no average), the runs tally will be considered instead.
All figures are correct as of December 16, 2025. The matches listed below refer only to WTC Tests in which the batter faced the bowler.
10. Yashasvi Jaiswal v Tom Hartley
5 matches | 152 runs | 1 wicket | Avg 152.0
All in one series. The home series against England last year is the standout of Jaiswal’s Test career so far, and that was down in no small part to his domination of England’s debutant left-arm spinner Hartley.
Across the first two matches alone, Jaiswal collected 101 runs and was only dismissed when he was outfoxed after stepping out. Hartley adjusted in the remaining three games, but Jaiswal remained comfortable enough to collect another 51 runs at a strike rate of 65.
9. Zak Crawley v Naseem Shah
4 matches | 154 runs | 0 wickets | Avg -
Three tours, four years and no dismissals. In Tests where Crawley and Naseem have both played, the Englishman has made at least 50 in all five innings – including two of his five Test centuries and his career-best score of 267, at Southampton.
In the 2020 home series against Pakistan, Crawley made 68 runs off Naseem’s bowling, striking at 76.4. After the Bazball takeover, the two tours of Pakistan saw him move from No.3 to the top of the order and cash in on some flat wickets, collecting another 86 runs off 75 deliveries.
8. Harry Brook v Zahid Mahmood
3 matches | 165 runs | 1 wicket | Avg 165.0
Brook burst onto the Test arena with an excellent tour of Pakistan in 2022, and in all fairness was helped by some poor bowling, by leggie Zahid (in unhelpful conditions). The Rawalpindi Test that year was his debut, and he returned 6-319, conceding at an eye-watering 7.25 per over across both innings.
A large factor was Brook, who absolutely tore him to shreds. Across that Test, the then-23-year-old faced up to 72 deliveries from Zahid, and took him for 126 runs. That made up over half of the 240 (153 & 87) he made in the match. Zahid got a modicum of revenge in the next game in Multan when he dismissed Brook in the second innings, but he had already made 108 by then...
7. David Warner v Yasir Shah
2 matches | 165 runs | 0 wickets | Avg -
In WTC Tests, Warner and Yasir faced off only twice; at Brisbane and Adelaide in 2019. By then, the leggie was beginning his late-career decline (it was only a short one in any case). Australia only batted once each time, thanks to Warner who made 154 and 335* respectively.
In the latter knock, the opener scored a century off Yasir’s bowling alone – 111 off 110. The previous innings was rather more sedate, with 54 off 83 from his bowling.
The remainder of the record reads little better for Yasir. There were five face-offs prior to the establishment of the WTC, and in those games Warner made 140 runs, striking at 118.6 and only losing his wicket to Yasir once; absolute domination.
6. Dimuth Karunaratne v Taijul Islam
6 matches | 167 runs | 1 wicket | Avg 167.0
The only all-Asian matchup on this list, it is also the second involving a left-hander against a left-arm spinner. In 2017 and 2018 (before the WTC), Karunaratne scored a modest 18 runs off Taijul in two games.
In six games since 2021 though, it has been one-way traffic. In April that year, Karunaratne took 65 off Taijul en route to 244 in the first Test in Pallekele, and 41 in the following match as he made 118 and 66. The solitary dismissal came the following year in Chattogram when the opener skipped down the wicket but holed out at midwicket.
5. Steve Smith v Ben Stokes
9 matches | 171 runs | 1 wicket | Avg 171.0
These two have faced off in Test cricket since 2013, and Stokes even dismissed Smith thrice in the first four matches that he bowled to him. But the next time he did so came over nine years later – Stokes’ wicket of Smith in the 2023 Ashes is the only time he has dismissed him in a WTC Test.
This comes with its caveats, of course; Stokes has gradually bowled less and less through the years. The majority of these 171 runs came during the 2019 Ashes – Smith took 70 off Stokes at Edgbaston, 14 at Lord’s and 39 at Old Trafford. Australia won two of these games, and the other was drawn.
(For the record, Smith v Archer is 130 runs, no wicket and just misses out on this list.)
4. Harry Brook v Abrar Ahmed
3 matches | 175 runs | 1 wicket | Avg 175.0
Brook again, a Pakistan spinner again. It’s well known by now that his record in the country is outrageous, and across two tours, Abrar felt the full force of Brook’s blade.
In the one match where Brook played both Abrar and Zahid in 2022, he was dismissed once each by both but managed to score 62 off Abrar as well. At Karachi in the next game, he took Abrar for 63. When Brook made his 317 at Multan last year, 50 of those runs came off him.
3. Virat Kohli v Nathan Lyon
9 matches | 189 runs | 0 wicket | Avg -
This was another battle carried over from the pre-WTC days. In 16 prior Tests where the pair faced off, Kohli had the measure of Lyon, taking 384 runs (including 105 in a single Test) and averaging 54.9 against the off-spinner.
Since then, perhaps surprisingly given Lyon’s prowess, the result-oriented nature of the WTC era and Kohli’s steady decline in the longest format, he has remained unbeaten against Lyon. There is a quiet acknowledgment of the bowler’s class in the record, though. Even through this unbeaten spell, Kohli only struck at 50.5, a run every other ball, against him.
2. Joe Root v Lasith Embuldeniya
2 matches | 200 runs | 0 wicket | Avg -
Not a frequent matchup, but to say Root cashed in would be an understatement. The back-to-back Galle Tests of 2021 were not full-fledged run-fests, but this matchup was a big part of why they were as high-scoring as they were.
On his way to 228 in the first Test, Root made a century off Embuldeniya’s bowling in brisk fashion – 107 off 130 balls. That accounted for nearly half the 45 overs bowled by the left-arm spinner, and just over 60 per cent of the runs he conceded in that innings.
In the second Test, the England star made 186 before being run out, when the next-highest scorer made 55. Root scored 93 off 117 against Embuldeniya, even as the Sri Lankan took seven wickets. Outside of Root’s contribution, his first-innings figures read 7-44 in 22.3 overs.
1. Ben Duckett v Mohammed Siraj
9 matches | 203 runs | 1 wicket | Avg 203.0
Opening batter against opening bowler, this pair have faced off in nine Tests across two years – England’s tour of India in 2024 and the return series in 2025. In these games, Duckett has been out four times to Akash Deep and thrice to R Ashwin, but only once to Siraj.
In between, he has made two centuries and three half-centuries overall, scoring consistently off India’s supporting quick to Jasprit Bumrah. Siraj can be erratic with the new ball at times, and England’s opener is well-placed to take advantage. The only dismissal came at Lord’s this year, but across that series, Duckett made 137 runs off Siraj’s bowling, at better than run-a-ball.
The series in India was more sedate, with 66 off 91, but Duckett kept his wicket intact through the four games in which they took each other on.
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