Australia vs India, 2018-19: 3rd Test, Day 2 – Statistical Highlights

India continued to bat Australia out of the Melbourne Test on the second day too as the visitors batted for nearly 170 overs in their first innings before declaring their innings. In conditions where stroke making looked tough, India batted for long periods to post 443/7.

They decided to declare to push the Aussie openers for six overs before the stumps. Cheteshwar Pujara made a fine 106 while Virat Kohli (82) and Rohit Sharma (63*) scored fifties to help India reach their first 400+ total away from home in 2018.

All the major stats and numbers that were recorded during the second day at the MCG:

Pujara’s version of digging in:

280 – Cheteshwar Pujara needed 280 balls for his century; the first time he has taken over 250 balls to complete a Test hundred. His century is the 2nd slowest in Test cricket for India in the last 15 years behind Virat Kohli’s 289-ball 100 against England in the 2012 Nagpur Test.

India stays on slower side:

2.61 – India’s run-rate of 2.61 is their 2nd lowest in any Test innings where they batted over 150 overs in the last 20 years. They had a run-rate of 2.46 in the 2nd innings of the 2003 Mohali Test against New Zealand where they made 424 in 172 overs.

443/7 – India’s total of 443/7 is their 2nd lowest declared total in the first innings of a Test match since 1996. They declared their innings at 387/8 in the 2007 Chittagong Test against Bangladesh as it was regularly affected by rain.

A Boxing Day special record for Kohli:

1 – Virat Kohli became the first visiting batsman to score 50+ in three consecutive innings in Melbourne’s Boxing Day Test matches. He scored 169 and 54 respectively during the 2014 Test match here.

A good year for Kohli:

1138 – Runs Kohli has scored in 2018 in the Test matches away from home; the most by an Indian in a year outside home surpassing Rahul Dravid’s 1137 runs in 2002. Only Graeme Smith (1212 runs in 2008) and Viv Richards (1154 runs in 1976) aggregated more runs in a calendar year away from home.

India’s top-order comes to the party:

7 – All the players from India’s top seven faced at least 66 deliveries in this innings. This is only the 2nd instance in Test cricket where all the top seven batsmen from India faced 50+ balls in an innings away from home. The other such occasions was in the 2nd innings of the 2006 St John’s Test against the Windies.

At home, India had one such known instance as most of the matches before the 1970s played in India didn’t have proper data of balls played. India’s top seven played at least 50 deliveries in the 2nd innings of the 2000 Bangalore Test against South Africa.

122.5 – India faced 122.5 overs before losing their 3rd wicket in this innings; the 2nd longest they have faced for the first three wickets in an away Test innings since 1999. They batted 126.1 overs before losing their 3rd wicket in the 1st innings of the 2004 Multan Test against Pakistan.

A rare double for Pant:

1 – Rishabh Pant became the first wicketkeeper from Asia with 150+ runs and 15+ dismissals in a Test series in Australia. He has scored 158 runs in this series thus far and claimed 17 dismissals.

4 – This is the 4th instance when an Indian keeper scored 150+ runs and effected 15+ dismissals in a Test series. Kiran More and MS Dhoni achieved the double in 1986 and in 2014 respectively in England. Rishabh Pant, in only his 3rd Test series, has achieved it twice – in England, 2018 and in Australia in 2018/19.

A timely knock for Rohit:

1032 – Rohit Sharma completed 1000 Test runs while batting at No.6 when he was on 31. He became the 6th Indian to score 1000 Test runs at No.6 position.

Rohit completed the milestone in 24 innings; the joint 2nd quickest among the six players. MS Dhoni got there in only 18 innings while VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly also needed 24 innings to get past 1000 Test runs at No.6.

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