Australia vs India, 2018-19: 3rd Test, Day 1 – Statistical Highlights

India got off to a cautious start in the Boxing Day Test match in Melbourne against Australia after winning the toss and electing to bat first. Stand-in opener Hanuma Vihari made only 8 runs but lasted nearly 19 overs with the debutant Mayank Agarwal at the other end.

The Karnataka opener struck 76 in his maiden innings before getting out on the last ball before Tea. Cheteshwar Pujara (68*) and Virat Kohli (47*) ensured India went to stumps on day one at 215/2 with an unbeaten 92-run partnership for the 3rd wicket.

All the major stats and numbers recorded during the Boxing Day in the Melbourne Test:

Proper Cricket from Vihari:

12.12 – Hanuma Vihari’s batting strike-rate during his 66-ball 8. This is the slowest Test innings by an Indian since Rahul Dravid’s 66-ball 5 in India’s first innings of the 2007 Boxing Day Test in MCG. Dravid had a strike-rate of 7.57. No other Test innings by an Indian was slower than these two since the start of 2002.

Mayank’s boxing day punch:

76 – Mayank Agarwal’s 76-run knock is the joint 2nd highest score on Test debut in a Boxing Day Test match in Melbourne. Australia’s Gary Cosier scored 109 on his debut against the Windies in the 1975 Boxing Day Test while Windies’ Roy Fredericks also made 76 on his debut against the hosts in the 1968 MCG Boxing Day Test.

Stats and numbers from Mayank Agarwal’s Test debut against Australia in Melbourne.

New faces at the top:

3 – Mayank Agarwal and Hanuma Vihari opening together in this game is only the 3rd opening pair for India who never opened in their Test career before. The 1932 Lord’s Test against England which was India’s inaugural Test match and the 1936 Lord’s Test also against England are the other two instances.

A crucial opening stand:

113 – Number of balls the opening partnership between Hanuma Vihari and Mayank Agarwal lasted in the first innings. This is the longest opening stand for India in the first innings of a Test outside Asia since the 153-run partnership between Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik in the 2007 Centurion Test against South Africa that lasted 337 deliveries.

Top order lasts long:

89 – Number of overs India batted on the first day for the loss of two wickets. These are the most number of overs India batted before losing their 3rd wicket in the first innings of a Test match outside Asia since 2003. Last time India batted more was during the 2002 Leeds Test against England where they batted 113.4 overs before losing their 3rd wicket.

534 – The 534 deliveries India’s top four batted thus far are the most by them in the opening innings of an away Test match in more than ten years. These are the most number of deliveries that India’s top four batted in the first innings of a Test match outside India since the 2007 Dhaka Test against Bangladesh.

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