CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs have the best defense in baseball. It might be the best team defense weve seen in some time -- quite some time.Historically, so much of defensive evaluation has been anecdotal and, therefore, inconclusive. Even now, with rivers of data flowing into our collective hardball consciousness, we havent reached the point where we can make specific judgments about defense with any real certainty. Still, I am more or less certain that the Cubs are playing unusually special defense.Just through a natural progression, maturity-wise, some guys have just gotten better, Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. Because theyre good. Were making the routine play routinely. Weve made some pretty spectacular plays all over the field.The anecdotal evidence of those is all over the place, and the evidence mounts with each game. The Cubs have young, elite, versatile athletes everywhere on the field, even behind the plate, now that rookie Willson Contreras is getting more of a workload. 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Among bowlers from all teams, only Sydney Barnes has been quicker to 23 five-for in Tests. Barnes took just 27 Tests.7 Five-fors by Ashwin this year - the second time he has taken seven or more such hauls in a calendar year. Ashwin took seven five-fors in 2015 as well. Only one other bowler - Muttiah Muarlitharan - has taken seven or more five-wicket hauls in a year more than once. Muralitharan did it in 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2006. Ashwins 14 five-wicket hauls in the last-two years equal the most any bowler has taken in a two-year period. Muralitharan had taken 14 such hauls between 2000 and 2001 and again between 2006 and 2007.18 Five-wicket hauls by Ashwin in just 26 Tests in India. Only Anil Kumbles 25 such hauls is higher than Ashwins in India. Harbhajan also took 18 five-fors from 55 Tests at home.56.16 Jos Buttlers batting average against India in Tests; his 76 in Englands first innings was his fifth score of 40 or more runs in six innings against them. Buttlers 76 is the highest by a visiting batsman at Wankhede batting at No. 7 or lower since Adam Gilchrists 122 in 2001-02.1975 The only time in 13 Tests before this a team posting a total of 400 or more runs in the first innings a Tests has lost at the Wankhede Stadium.dddddddddddd On that occasion though India had ended up trailing West Indies by 198 runs in spite of putting up 406 runs on the board. Since then, teams posting a total of 400-plus have ended up winning on seven occasions, with other six Tests ending in a draw. This is Englands third 400-plus total in their first innings at the Wankhede Stadium in their last three Tests here. England defeated the hosts after posting such totals on the previous two instances.2013 The last time before this India spinners took all the ten wickets to fall in the first innings of a Test. Ashwin had led the India spinners on that occasion too, taking seven of the ten Australia wickets to fall to spinners, in Chennai in 2012-13. Overall, this was just the eighth instance of India spinners taking all ten wickets in the first innings of a Test.1983 The last time before this India had a century stand for their second wicket in Tests at the Wankhede Stadium. Anshuman Gaekwad and Dilip Vengsarkar had added 133 against West Indies on that occasion. Overall, there have been only four such stands for India at this venue. M Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara have added 107 runs in this innings - their seventh hundred-run stand in Tests. So far, the pair has added 2251 runs together at an average of 66.20 - the highest for an India pair that has added 2000 or more runs in Tests. ' ' '