Stats: India vs South Africa, Delhi Test Day 2 - Jadeja-Ashwin's best series
Milestones for Ajinkya Rahane and Ravichandran Ashwin with the bat and another five wickets for Jadeja ensured that India ended day two in Delhi, 214 runs ahead.
The hosts got to 334 in their first innings, thanks to a century from Rahane and a fifty from Ashwin. Despite bowling on a pitch that wasn’t as conducive to spin as previous pitches in the series, Jadeja‘s five-wicket haul meant the Proteas were bowled out for 121.
Here are some of the stats from day 2:
0 - Number of Test Series with 3 or more Matches not to have a single partnership of 100 plus excluding this series. 98 Runs Partnership between Ashwin and Rahane is the highest partnership in this series so far. Previous lowest Top partnership in a series of 3 or more matches was 101 in NZ-Pak series in 1969.
1 – Number of individualcCenturies this series has seen till date- the only series of four or more matches with fewer than 2 centuries. The earlier minimum number of centuries in a Test Series (4 or more Matches) is 2 (Pak-WI 19080/81 Series).
3rd - Joint-Lowest Top Opening Partnership for South Africa in a bilateral series of 4 or more Matches- South Africa has the highest first wicket partnership of 36 in this series- Previously 25 vs England 1998 and 34 vs Australia in 1910 were the lowest top opening partnership for South Africa in the series of 4 or more matches.
4- Number of Wickets Ravichandra Ashwin need to make this series best for him in terms of Wickets taken- he has so far taken 26 wickets which are his 2nd most in a Test series in his career. His best are 29 wickets he took against Australia in Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2012/13. In that series, he bowled in 8 innings while in this series, he has bowled in 6 innings.
4- Also Number of Wickets Ravindra Jadeja need to make this series best for him in terms of Wickets taken- he has so far taken 21 wickets which are his 2nd most in a Test series in his career. His best are 24 wickets, which he also took against Australia in Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2012/13. In that series, he also bowled in 8 innings while in this series, he has bowled in 6 innings.
5 - Number of Half-Centuries scored in this series - easily the least in a series of 4 or more test matches. Previously 11 Half-Centuries in Pakistan’s tour of England in 1954 were the lowest. Last two innings require at least 6 half-centuries to equal the unwanted record.
5 - Wickets Taken by Indian Pacers, which are the 3rd least they have taken in a series of 4 or more matches- Their least has been 3 vs England in 1972 and 4 vs West Indies in 1975.
10 - out of 12 50 plus 8th wicket stands for India against South Africa have come either in November or December. Only 2 such stands are not in the last two months of the year and they both have come in February.
10- Number of 50-plus partnerships this series has seen so far- fewest a 4 or more match series has ever seen. The previous lowest number was 12 which came in a series between Pakistan and England in 1954.
10.92 - Runs given by Ashwin for every wicket he took in this series- which are fewest he has given in a single series in his test career. Among his top 4 best series with respect to bowling averages, 3 have been in 2015. Ravindra Jadeja’s average of 10.61 is also best for Jadeja in a single test series.
36 - Runs Made by Opening Partnership of South Africa in the 1st innings today- It is their highest and first 20 plus opening partnership in this series with scores of 17, 4, 15, 8 and 9 (in previous five innings).
87 - Wickets have fallen to Spinners in This series- which is the 3rd most for spinners in a Test series or 4 matches. From the remaining 20 wickets (in case both innings are bowled out) spinners require 6 more wickets to make it the best 4-match test series for spinners. With 92 Wickets, Border-Gavaskar Series in India in 2012 has most wickets for spinners.
89 - Runs accumulated by Opening Partnership of South Africa in this series- their lowest in a series of 4 or more matches. They need another 12 runs from the last innings to go past their previous worst of 101 vs Australia in 2010/11.
98 - Runs Collected by Ashwin and Rahane for 8th Wicket- it is the highest partnership in this series so far going past 86 made by Pujara and Vijay for 2nd wicket in Mohali Test. It is also 12th fifty-plus and 3rd highest partnership for 8th Wicket for India against South Africa in Tests.
121 - Total of South Africa in their first innings- which is their joint 5th lowest in Tests against India and 3rd lowest total for any team at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
127 - The runs Ajinkya Rahane scored in first innings - the highest for a batsman in this series, surpassing AB de Villiers’ 85 in Bangalore Test. This is also Rahane’s first 50 plus score in India.
2000 - The last Time 90 plus partnership was made for 8th wicket by any pair at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium Delhi- Before Ashwin-Rahane’s 98 runs stand, Andy Flower and Olonga had made 97* for 8th wicket on 18 Nov 2000.
2006 - The last and only time Hashim Amla scored fewer than 100 runs in series with 6 innings at least- Hashim Amla has scored 93 runs in this series in 6 innings so far with one innings to go. His previous least had also come against India in 2006 when India visited South Africa in 2006. Amla scored 91 in six innings in that series.