South Africa vs India, 2018: 3rd Test, Day 1 – Statistical Highlights

India’s batting order collapsed yet again in this series as they were bowled out for only 187 after electing to bat first on a greenish track. Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli showed some resistance by scoring fifties after the fall of early wickets. However, India collapsed from 144/4 only to be rescued by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who added valuable runs low down the order. The South Africans too lost a wicket for six runs before the end of the day.

All the stats and numbers that were recorded during the exciting first day’s play in Johannesburg:

2 – Only the 2nd time in their Test history, India took the field without a specialist spinner in their playing XI. India played against Australia in the 2012 Perth Test match without a specialist spinner in the XI.

5 – India’s innings is the first instance since 2009 where five different pacers accumulated ten wickets between them in a Test inning. Five New Zealand pacers bagged ten Indian wickets in the 2009 Wellington Test.

5.2 – Ajinkya Rahane averages 5.2 in his last six innings in Test cricket with a highest score of 10. He averages 7.89 in his last nine first-class innings which include three ducks.

35 – Virat Kohli fielded without same XI in consecutive Tests in all the 35 matches in his captaincy career. No other captain led their team in more games without fielding with an unchanged XI even once. Mushfiqur Rahim led Bangladesh in 34 Tests without an unchanged XI even once.

54 – Number of balls Cheteshwar Pujara needed for opening his account. These are the 2nd most number of balls needed for an Indian to get off the mark in a Test inning. Rajesh Chauhan took 57 balls against Sri Lanka in 1994 Ahmedabad Test.

54 – Virat Kohli’s 54 is the 2nd lowest score among his 24 fifty-plus scores in the first innings in Test cricket. He scored his maiden Test fifty off 52 that came in India’s first innings only.

2009 – Last visiting captain before Virat Kohli to score multiple fifty-plus scores in a Test series in South Africa was Ricky Ponting in 2009. Kohli is also the first Asian captain to do this feat.

2012 – For the first time since 2012, India fielded four specialist pacers in their XI in a Test match. India took the field with four pacers in the 2012 Perth Test. Prior to that, India went with four specialist pacers in the 1992 Sydney Test against Australia.