Stats: Cheteshwar Pujara breaks Gautam Gambhir's Indian record
India ended the day with the score at 248 for the loss of 6 wickets. After the fall of Murali Vijay early in the day, KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara formed a strong partnership to give India a good platform to build on. Nathan Lyon ran through the Indian middle-order with four wickets to halt the hosts’ progress.
Rahul fell for 60, when he looked in fine form, while Pujara’s stubborn resistance was broken by Lyon after the tea break. Indian captain Ajinkya Rahane fell four short of a half-century, while Ashwin ably supported him with a useful contribution of 30 runs. Lyon was the star for Australia as he picked up four key wickets to give Australia a firm grip on the game.
India trail Australia by 52 runs at the end of Day 2 of the 4th and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, with Ravindra Jadeja and Wriddhiman Saha at the crease.
Here are a few interesting statistics from an evenly matched Day 2 of the fourth Test:
0 – No Indian batsman has scored more runs in a season than Cheteshwar Pujara. The Saurashtra batsman’s steady 57 off 151 balls in India’s first innings put him ahead of Gautam Gambhir in the most Test runs scored by an Indian in a season, which now stands at 1316 runs.
1 – KL Rahul’s half-century in the 1st innings of the fourth Test makes him the first Indian opening batsman to hit five 50s without going past the century mark.
2 – Pujara is the second in the all-time list of most runs in a season (1316 runs), behind Ricky Ponting, who scored 1483 runs in the 2005/06 season, and ahead of Ponting’s compatriot Matthew Hayden, who scored 1287 runs, also in the 2005/06 season.
3 – Rahul also becomes the third player in the current series to score more than 300 runs, after Steve Smith (482 runs) and Cheteshwar Pujara (405 runs).
3 – The Karnataka batsman also became the third Indian batsman to score five half-centuries and not convert it into a century in a series; the other two being Dilip Sardesai and Gundappa Viswanath – esteemed company, indeed!
3 – Ravindra Jadeja becomes the third player in Test cricket to score 500 runs and pick 50 wickets in one season; the other two being Mitchell Johnson and Kapil Dev.
5 – Rahul has scored five half-centuries in the current Border-Gavaskar series; Sunil Gavaskar’s seven half-centuries against the West Indies in the 1970-71 tour is the highest number of half-centuries by an Indian opener in a series.
10 – Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja became the 10th Indian to score 1000 runs and pick 100 wickets in Test cricket. The other Indians in the list includes Ravichandran Ashwin, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble, Ravi Shastri, Kapil Dev, and Vinoo Mankad.
25 – Ajinkya Rahane is 25th in the all-time list of the most runs scored by an Indian in Test cricket (2542 runs) surpassing former Indian captain and current coach, Anil Kumble’s score of 2506 runs. In 24th position on the list is former wicketkeeper-batsman Farokh Engineer on 2611 runs.
39 – Ravichandran Ashwin is now 39th in the list of most runs scored by an Indian in Test cricket (1903 runs), going past Yuvraj Singh (1900 runs). Ashwin passed the 1900 run mark in 49 Tests, while Yuvraj took 40 Tests to achieve the same. The Tamil Nadu all-rounder’s next target is Wasim Jaffer who has 1944 runs.
63 – Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon’s four wickets took his wickets tally against India to 63 wickets in 14 matches. He is now the third most successful spinner against India, tied with former West India spinner Lance Gibbs. Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is the most successful spin bowler against India with 105 wickets in just 22 matches.