India vs Australia Pink Ball Test review in stats: Mitchell Starc on target

2 The number of bowlers who have the distinction of claiming a wicket off the very first ball of a Test match on three separate occasions. In the recent Test match in Adelaide, Australia’s Mitchell Starc matched the achievement of West Indian left-arm pacer Pedro Collins. Overall, 27 bowlers, on 35 occasions, have taken a wicket off the first ball of a Test match. Additionally, four other bowlers have accomplished this feat on two occasions. The first table lists those bowlers who have achieved this multiple times. The latest batter to lose his wicket off the first ball of a Test match is India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal, thus making him the 31st batter to fall victim to this occurrence for the 35th time. Jaiswal became the seventh Indian opener on this unwanted list, for the ninth time. Notably, two batters — India’s Sunil Gavaskar and Bangladesh’s Hannan Sarkar — hold the dubious record of being dismissed off the first ball three times. In contrast, no other batter has been dismissed in this manner more than once.

Bowlers claiming a wicket off the very first ball of a Test match on multiple occasions

Indian openers dismissed off the first ball of a Test match

Notes:

*Jaiswal was the first to be dismissed in a day-night Test match

*Jimmy Cook was on his Test debut

*Jalandhar and Jaipur hosted their only ever Test match

4 The number of occasions when two Indian pace bowlers have claimed four or more wickets in the same innings of a Test match on Australian soil. In the recent Test at the Adelaide Oval, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj accomplished this feat in the first innings, although India ultimately lost the match. Notably, Kapil Dev and Siraj are the only bowlers in this context to have achieved this on two separate occasions.

Indian pace bowlers hunting in a pair in Tests in Australia

Note:The occurrence in Brisbane was in the second inns

4 The number of times captain Rohit Sharma was dismissed by his opposing captain during his Test career. Pat Cummins has got Rohit out three times, while England’s Ben Stokes has done so once. Notably, Rohit joins South African Dean Elgar as the only player to be dismissed three times by Cummins while leading their respective sides. The other captains Cummins has dismissed more than once are Kiwi Tim Southee, West Indian Kraigg Brathwaite, and Ben Stokes. Incidentally, Pat Cummins has so far taken 14 wickets of his opposing captains during his Test career as an Aussie skipper. Interestingly, Rohit Sharma’s dismissal in the second innings in Adelaide marks only the second time an Australian captain has claimed the wicket of an Indian captain in a Test match played in Australia. The first instance occurred in January 1968, nearly 57 years ago, when Bob Simpson dismissed M. A. K. Pataudi during a Test in Melbourne.

Rohit Sharma’s Test dismissals by the opponent captain

1031 The number of balls/overs delivered in the Adelaide Test is the fewest in any 109 Test matches played between India and Australia since the inaugural Test on 1 January 1948 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). However, it should be noted that one other Test match was played at Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi in September 1986, a rain-affected drawn game. This match only witnessed 610 balls (101.4 overs) of play, with no play possible on the first three days because of rain.

Shortest Test matches between India & Australia in terms of fewest balls delivered (excluding drawn Tests)

Note: Both the Adelaide Tests in 2020 and 2024 were day-night games.

4.14 The run-rate in the Adelaide Test is now the highest for any Tests played between India and Australia since inception. Only on two occasions has the run-rate of 4 or more been surpassed in any Tests between these two sides. The previous occasion came in Brisbane during the 2014/15 series. Incidentally, the run-rate in Adelaide is also the third-highest for any Test match played on Australian soil as listed in the second table below.

Test matches between India & Australia that produced the highest run-rates (R/O)

Note: India’s (355 runs in 81 overs) run-rate of 4.38 in the recent Adelaide Test is the first time ithad exceeded an R/R of 4 runs per over in any Test in Australia. Its previous best was the 3.97 (916 runs in 230.5 overs) in Sydney in January 2004.