Stats: India vs South Africa 2nd Test Day 1- A brave decision by Kohli, Indian spinners continue dream Test Series
27 – Number of wickets Indian spinners have taken so far in this series in 3 innings. Fast bowlers have taken only 2, both of which are accredited to Varun Aaron. In a 4-match series, record wickets taken by Indian spinners are 65 and 60 – both of which have come in Border-Gavaskar series in India. Going at this pace, Indian spinners would easily beat that record in this series.
2009 – The last time South Africa played a test game without Dale Steyn. It was the 1st Test of Basil D'Oleveira Series vs England at Centurion from 16-20 December 2009, and Steyn was replaced by debutant Friedel de Wet. The match was drawn.
1- Number of instances when a captain decided to field first after winning the toss in a test at Bengaluru, before Virat Kohli's decision in this game. The other occasion was the very first match hosted by Bangalore in November 1974 when West Indies was playing India.
Nawab of Pataudi Mansoor Ali Khan won the toss and decided to field first against West Indies. It was the debut match for Sir Vivian Richards and Greenidge. West Indies won the game by 267 runs. Since then, Bangalore has hosted 19 more tests excluding this one, and no captain decided to field first after winning the toss.
584 – Runs collected by the opening stand of South Africa since 1st January, 2014, the lowest for any team excluding Zimbabwe (which has played only 8 games). Their average during this period is 29.20 which is also the least among all test playing nations (excluding Zimbabwe). During this period, South Africa has not had a single 100 plus opening stand.
0 – Number of 20 plus opening partnerships for India since their 283-run stand against Bangladesh in June 2015. Today Indian openers have made an unbeaten stand of 80 runs. In 8 test innings before today, Indian openers managed 0, 9, 2, 0, 4, 3, 14 and 12 runs.
3 – Times now Ab de Villiers have been dismissed in the 80's. Interestingly, his scores in 80's are 83, 84 and 85. The three 80's have come with a gap of exact three years eac – 2009, 2012 and now 2015.
35 – The difference between Ab de Villiers' batting average and that of other South African batsmen when playing against spin on this tour so far. Ab de Villiers has scored at an average of 55.50 while other SA batsmen average 19.90.
8 – Four-wicket hauls Ashwin has taken in tests this yea, the most for any bowler, followed by Yasir Shah's 7, Dhamikka Prasad and Herath (5 each). Ashwin has also taken 4 five wicket hauls during this period, which is also the most for any bowler.
20.51 – Bowling average of R Ashwin in tests this year- easily the best among bowlers who have taken at least 20 wickets. Anderson (22.65) and Yasir Shah (23.00) are next on the list.
43 – Wickets taken by Ashwin this year, 4th most for any bowler, after Broad's 51, Yasir's 49 and Anderson's 46. However, Ashwin has bowled in 13 innings, while Broad has in 25, Yasir in 14 and Anderson in 22.
6 – Out of 10 innings Ab de Villiers has played in this tour have resulted in a score of more than 50. Only Faf comes close to him with 4 such scores. No Indan has managed more than 3.
65.77 – Batting average of Ab de Villiers in this tour, which is the best among the batsmen (including indians) playing in this tour (min 4 innings). Second on the list is also a South African. Quinton de Kock has scored 318 runs at an average of 63.60.