Stats: Reliving India's last Border-Gavaskar Trophy with win at home
With an all-important ICC World Test Championship (2021-23) final berth on the line, Team India will host arch-rivals Australia in the 16th Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The four-match Test series is scheduled to begin on Thursday, February 9, with the opening encounter set to take place in Nagpur.
The series marks the first instance of Australia touring India for a Test series in six years. The last time India hosted the Aussies for a red-ball cricket series was back in 2017. On that occasion, the Asian giants managed a narrow 2-1 win in the four-game series.
With that win, India reclaimed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and are still the current holders of the prestigious trophy.
The 2017 edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was an exhibition of fantastic cricket, with both India and Australia doing their best to outdo each other.
Under Virat Kohli, India became a ruthless side with dominant series wins against New Zealand, Bangladesh and England. However, Australia stunned the Asian giants in Pune to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series.
In the second Test in Bangalore, Australia took a solid 87-run first innings lead, much to the shock of the fans. However, on the back of crucial performances by KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravichandran Ashwin, India made a roaring comeback to level the series 1-1.
The third Test in Ranchi saw 1258 runs being scored across three innings before the match ended in a draw.
It all boiled down to the fourth and final Test in Dharamsala. This time, solid performances from the the Indian bowling unit and half-centuries in each innings from KL Rahul led India to a series-clinching win.
As India gears up for the upcoming edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, let's take a statistical recap of India's last Test series win over Australia in India.
Brief scores of India's last Test series win over Australia at home
1st Test (Pune) - Australia (260 & 285) beat India (105 & 107) by 333 runs.
2nd Test (Bangalore) - India (189 & 274) beat Australia (276 & 112) by 75 runs.
3rd Test (Ranchi) - India (603/9 decl.) drew with Australia (451 and 204/6).
4th Test (Dharamsala) - India (332 & 106/2) beat Australia (300 & 137).
Batting performances
Highest team total: 603/9 (decl.) by India in the first innings of the 3rd Test.
Lowest team total: 105/10 by India in the first innings of the 1st Test.
Most runs by a batter: 499 by Steve Smith.
Highest individual score in an innings: 202 (off 525 balls) by Cheteshwar Pujara in the 3rd Test.
Total half-centuries: 20 (6 by KL Rahul).
Bowling performances
Most wickets by a bowler: 25 by Ravindra Jadeja.
Best bowling figures in an innings: 8/50 by Nathan Lyon in the 2nd Test.
Best bowling strike rate: 45.3 by Umesh Yadav.
Best bowling average: 18.56 by Ravindra Jadeja.
Fielding and wicket-keeping performances
Most catches in the series by an outfielder: 10 by Steve Smith.
Most stumpings by a keeper: 2 by Matthew Wade.