AUS vs IND, 2020-21: 4th Test, Day 5 – India’s record chase, India breaches the fortress, Pant's record knock and more stats

India scripted a historic win in Brisbane by chasing down the target of 328 in the series decider and win yet another Test series on Australian soil. Despite the early loss of Rohit Sharma on the final day, his partner Shubman Gill set the tone with a brisk 91-run knock. Cheteshwar Pujara held things from one side with a gritty 211-ball 56 while the runs kept coming from the other end. Rishabh Pant was the star of the chase who made an unbeaten 89 from 138 balls with eight boundaries including one to finish off the game.

Here are all the statistical highlights from India’s sensation win in the series decider at the Gabba:

A record chase for India:

1 – India’s chase of the 328-run target is now the first-ever successful chase of 300+ target in Brisbane in Test cricket. The previous highest Test chase at this venue was only 236 by the Aussies against West Indies in 1951. The previous chase in the longer format at the Gabba for a visiting team was only 170 by England in 1978.

328 – The 328-run chase by India in Brisbane is only their 3rd successful chase of a 300+ target. India won chasing 403 against West Indies in the 1976 Port of Spain Test and gunned down the 387-run target against England in the 2008 Chennai Test.

328 – India’s 328-run chase is now the 5th highest by any team in Test cricket on Australian soil and also the 3rd highest for a visiting team. This is also India’s biggest chase against Australia in Test cricket surpassing the chase of the 254-run target during the 1964 Brabourne Test match. South Africa’s chase of 414 in the 2008 Perth Test was the last instance of a team winning chasing 300+ in a Test match on Australian soil.

India breaches Australia’s fortress:

31 – India’s 3-wicket win on Tuesday ended Australia’s 31-match unbeaten streak in Test cricket at Brisbane’s Gabba ground. This is the 2nd longest unbeaten spree for any team in Test cricket at a venue behind Pakistan’s 34-match streak at Karachi’s National Stadium which was broken in 2000. Australia’s last Test defeat came against West Indies in 1988.

India trumps experience:

0.43 – The ratio between Test caps in India’s playing XI (215) and Australia’s playing XI (505) before the game was 0.43 which is the 2nd lowest for India in any Test victory. India had a ratio of 0.35 when they defeated Australia by 2 wickets in the 2011 Chennai Test. India went into the game with 218 Test caps and faced an Australian line-up with 617 caps.

India holds the trophy yet again:

1 – India became the first team to retain/regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for three consecutive Test series. India regained the Trophy with a 2-1 series win at home in 2017 before retaining it in the last series in Australia during the 2018-19 season.

India bounces back in style:

1954-55 – India recorded the first instance of a visiting team winning a Test series on Australian soil after losing the series opener since the 1954-55 season. England bounced back from 0-1 in the 5-match Ashes series during the 1954-55 season which they won by a 3-1 margin.

2 – This Test series is only the 2nd for India away from home which they won after losing the series opener. India lost the opening game of the 3-match Test series in Sri Lanka in 2015 before winning the next two matches.

36 – India’s total of 36 in the 2nd innings of the Adelaide Test is now the joint-lowest all-out total for a team in a Test series which they won. Australia also were bundled out for 36 in the opening game of the 5-match Test series against England in England. The match finished in a draw but Aussies won the series by 2-1 margin in the end.

Paine’s miserable record against India:

4 – Tim Paine now has lost as many as four Test matches as captain at home against India. These are the joint-most number of defeats in Test cricket at home for any captain against India. Jason Holder also suffered four defeats at their home venues in the Caribbean Islands across six home Tests as skipper.

4 – Rishabh Pant, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane are the only players to be part of the four-Test wins of India on Australian soil. The Gabba Test was the 3rd Indian Test win in Australia featuring Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal. Eight other Indians have been part of three Test wins in Australia including Jasprit Bumrah from the current lot.

Gill and Pant star with the bat:

21y 133d – Shubman Gill, at the age of 21 years and 133 days, became the youngest Indian opener to score a fifty in the 4th innings. Previous youngest was Sunil Gavaskar who scored 67* in his Test debut against West Indies during the 1971 Port of Spain Test at the age of 21 years and 243 days.

89* – Rishabh Pant’s unbeaten 89 is now the 2nd highest individual score by a wicketkeeper in a successful 4th innings chase in Test cricket. Only Adam Gilchrist is ahead of Pant having scored an unbeaten 149 against Pakistan in the 1999 Hobart Test.

Pant @ 1000 runs:

3 – Rishabh Pant, with his unbeaten 89*, became the first Indian wicketkeeper to score three 50+ scores on Australian soil. He is also the first Indian keeper with three 50+ scores in the 4th innings of a Test match.

Pant has scored 50+ runs in each of his last four outings in the 4th innings – 114, 97 and 89*. These scores are the top three by Indian keepers in the 4th innings of a Test match.

27 – Pant completed 1000 runs in Test cricket with his first runs during the 5th day’s play. He is now the fastest wicketkeeper to 1000 Test runs for India (27 innings) surpassing MS Dhoni who got there in 32 innings.

Rohit on to the top:

2 – Rohit Sharma has achieved a rare distinction of being part of the XI that defeated Australia at the Gabba in both Test and ODI formats. Rohit was part of the Indian XI which got the better of Australia in the CB Series Final in 2008 at this venue.

A total of 15 visiting players before Rohit were part of Test and ODI line-ups that defeated Australia at the Gabba; all of them for West Indies before the start of the 21st century.

15 – Rohit now has been part of 15 wins in International cricket against Australia in Australia; the most by any Indian going past Virat Kohli’s 14. Among Asian players, only Mahela Jayawardene (16) and Nuwan Kulasekara (15) have won 15 or more International games against Australia on Australian soil.