After thrashing New Zealand, England and Bangladesh in this ongoing home Test season convincingly, India were overwhelming favorites at the start of the first Test against Australia — deservedly so. The hosts’ batsmen and bowlers were in a rich vein of form. However, Australia’s 333-run winning margin in the first Test showed that it’s always foolish to write off Australia on any given day. This was the visitors’ first Test victory in India after 4,502 days — The last time they won a Test in India was in 2004 at Nagpur. This was also their first Test win in Asia since September 2011, a result which also ended India’s unbeaten streak of 19 Test matches.
While Steve Smith and his Australia compatriots showed Indian batsmen exactly how to bat on a rank-turner, their spinners showed what length one must bowl in order to get LBW dismissals and outside edges on the dustbowl like Gahunje. The spectacular collapse in the first innings and dropped catches in the second innings were the prime reasons behind India losing the first Test.
This was a reality check for India. Maybe as an Australian fan, it was just the trailer, and the real story is not yet over. It will be intriguing to see whether India will bounce back in the second Test at Bangalore.
Here’s a look at some of the records which were broken and created in the first Test.
Pune was 80th venue at which India have played a Test, which is the most among all the teams. Pakistan have played at least a Test at 79 different venues. Pune was overall India’s 25th venue to host a Test match.
David Warner was dismissed by Umesh Yadav in the first innings — the fifth time in Tests that Umesh dismissed Warner, which is the joint most number of occasions Umesh has dismissed a batsman in Tests. Umesh has also dismissed Shaun Marsh five times in Tests.
Ravichandran Ashwin has taken 68 wickets in this season in Test cricket which is the second-most by any bowler and the most by a spinner in a season in Test cricket.
* Ashwin’s 68 wickets from 10 Tests in this season are also the most by a bowler in a season in India. He broke Kapil Dev’s record, who had taken 63 wickets in 13 matches in India in 1979/80.
Matthew Renshaw scored 68 runs in the first innings to become the youngest (20 years, 332 days) Australian batsman to score a fifty in a Test in India. The previous record was held by Rick Darling when he scored a fifty against India at the age of 22 years and 154 days at the Kanpur Test in 1979.
Renshaw also became the sixth Australian opener to score at least a fifty in his maiden Test innings in India. The other five openers who have achieved the same milestone are David Boon (in 1986), Matthew Hayden (2001), Keith Stackpole (1969), Bill Lawry (1964) and David Warner (2013).
Mitchell Starc became the 14th Australian player to score 1,000 runs and take 100 Test wickets in Tests. He took 35 Tests to achieve the milestone and is the sixth fastest Australian in terms of number of Tests to achieve the mentioned landmark. The fastest among Australians was Monty Noble as he achieved the feat in just 27 Tests.
Virat Kohli's dismissal for a duck in the first innings of the Test, was after 104 consecutive international innings that he was out for zero. Before this Test, the last time he was dismissed for a duck in an international innings was against England at Cardiff in 2014. Kohli’s duck in the Pune Test was his first duck as a captain and fifth time overall as a batsman in Tests.
India were all out for 105 and 107 in the first innings and second innings respectively in Pune. Both totals are now in the list of lowest totals for India against Australia in Tests.
India lost seven wickets for 11 runs on the second day of the Test which is now their worst ever seven-wicket collapse in Test cricket. The previous worst came at Christchurch against New Zealand in 1989-90 when they lost seven wickets for just 18 runs.
Steve Smith became the eleventh Australian player to score 1,000 runs in Tests against India. He completed the feat in seven Tests which makes him the joint second fastest in Tests and the joint fourth fastest in terms of innings to achieve the milestone.
Smith became the fourth batsman to score a century in five consecutive Tests against an opposition. He has now scored a century in five consecutive Tests against India. Smith became the second Australian captain to score a century in a team’s second innings in a Test in India. The other captain was Mark Taylor who had achieved the same feat as an Australian captain at Bangalore in 1998.
Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja became the first spin bowling pair to take 50-plus wickets each in a same season in Test cricket. Overall, it was the third instance when two bowlers from a team took more than 50 wickets in a same season in Tests.
Jadeja took five wickets in the match and completed his 100 wickets in Tests in India. Now, he is the joint second fastest to take 100 wickets in Tests in India. The fastest is Ashwin, who took 100 wickets in India in just 16 Tests.
India scored 212 runs between losing all 20 wickets in this Test which is their lowest aggregate runs in a home Test when they have lost 20 wickets. Overall, it was their fourth lowest aggregate runs when they lost 20 wickets in a Test.
India faced 444 balls in this Test which is also the lowest number of balls faced by them in a home Test when losing all 20 wickets. Overall, it was the third lowest number of balls that India faced in a Test when losing all 20 wickets. The lowest is 349 when they lost 20 wickets against England at Manchester in 1952.
India lost the Test by 333 runs which is India’s second largest defeat at home and fourth largest overall.
Steve O’Keefe’s figures of 12 for 70 were the second best by a visiting bowler in India. His figures are also the best figures for Australia against India in Tests bettering Alan Davidson’s 12 for 124 in Kanpur in 1959-60. He also became the first Australian specialist left-arm spinner to win a Man of the Match award in a Test in India.
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