India registered an epic three-wicket win in Brisbane to round off one of their greatest Test series wins ever. Here’s a look at some mind-boggling stats from the series.
3 – India have now won three successive Test series against Australia – 2017 (at home), 2018/19 and 2020/21 – the first time they’ve done so. They’re also one of the three teams to win a Test series Down Under this century other than South Africa (2008/09, 2012/13 and 2016/17) and England (2010/11).
3 – Number of times India have successfully chased a 300-plus score to win a Test match. The other two instances saw them score 406/4 against West Indies at Port of Spain in 1976 and 387/4 against England at Chennai in 2008.
329/7 – The highest successful run-chase for India in Australia, the fifth highest overall. Since 2000, only South Africa have achieved a higher target – 414/4 at Perth in 2008/09.
Mohammed Siraj 9️⃣/🔟
Rishabh Pant 8️⃣.5️⃣/🔟
Cheteshwar Pujara❓
Washington Sundar❓Find out the Indian player ratings from the #AUSvIND series 👇#AUSvINDhttps://t.co/sr5a3BZNlw
— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) January 19, 2021
31 – Number of Tests Australia went unbeaten at The Gabba, Brisbane – the second longest streak for any team at a venue after Pakistan’s 34 unbeaten matches at Karachi’s National Stadium between 1955 and 2000. Australia were last beaten in Brisbane back in 1988, by the West Indies.
5 – Number of Tests Ajinkya Rahane has now gone unbeaten as captain. Only nine other players who have led their sides in a minimum of five games have an unbeaten record. Before Rahane, MS Dhoni went unbeaten in each of his first 11 Tests as captain (eight wins and three draws) between 2008 and 2010, before India lost to South Africa in Nagpur, 2010.
2,177 – Number of deliveries faced by Cheteshwar Pujara in Australia since the start of 2018, only Marnus Labuschagne (2,586) has faced more in the period. Pujara’s tally of 928 in the series is also the fifth-highest for any visiting batsman in four or fewer Tests, not far behind his own record of 1,258 in the previous edition in 2018/19.
Most Test balls faced in Australia since 2018:
🇦🇺 Marnus Labuschagne ➜ 2,586
🇮🇳 CHETESHWAR PUJARA ➜ 2,177 🙌
🇦🇺 Travis Head ➜ 1,672
🇦🇺 Steve Smith ➜ 1,471
🇦🇺 David Warner ➜ 1,439Freak. pic.twitter.com/GuixVefdKv
— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) January 19, 2021
89* – Pant’s score in the fourth innings in Brisbane is the second highest for any wicket-keeper in a successful Test run-chase, after Adam Gilchrist’s 149* against Pakistan in Hobart in 2000/01. Pant now has the top-three highest scores for an Indian wicket-keeper in fourth innings of a Test, the other two being his 114 against England at The Oval in 2018 and 97 in the last Test in Sydney.
624 – Number of runs Rishabh Pant has now scored in Australia from 12 innings. It’s the second best for a visiting wicketkeeper downunder, only 19 behind England’s Alan Knott who scored 643 from 22 innings. Pant’s average of 62.40 is the best among wicketkeepers with a minimum of 300 runs.
2 – Number of Indian players to score a fifty and bag four or more wickets on Test debut. Washington Sundar (62 & 22; 3/89 & 1/80) became the second on the list after L Amar Singh (5 & 51; 2/75, 2/84) against England at Lord’s, 1932.
5 – Number of times India have won the series after losing the opening Test. Four of them have come in the 21st century. The previous instances are:
2-1 vs England at home, 1972/73 (L, W, W, D, D)
2-1 vs Australia at home, 2001 (L, W, W)
2-1 vs Sri Lanka on tour, 2015 (L, W, W)
2-1 vs Australia at home, 2017 (L, W, D, W)