India v England, 1st Test, Day 3 – Statistical Highlights

India gave a strong reply to England’s total of 537 only before losing a couple of wickets towards the end of the day in the first Test match at Rajkot. Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara, the local boy scored centuries to help India to end the day at 319/4. Vijay and Pujara put on a 209 stand for the 2nd wicket batting for 67 overs. Here we look at all the stats and records recorded during the day’s play.

1 – For the first time in Test cricket, two batsmen have been at 99* at end of a session. Moeen Ali at end of day 1 and Pujara at day 3 Tea were unbeaten on 99.

2 – Cheteshwar Pujara is now the 2nd Indian to score a century in two different grounds hosting its first Test in India. Sachin Tendulkar scored centuries in the first Test match played at Lucknow and Nagpur stadiums.

3 – Cheteshwar Pujara is one of the 3 Indians who scored a century in their home venue’s first Test match. Mumbai’s Rusi Modi and Eknath Solkar scored centuries in the first Test match of Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums respectively.

4 – Number of sixes Murali Vijay has hit in the first innings of this Test. Last two instances of an Indian hitting 4 sixes in a Test innings are by Ajinkya Rahane.

5 – Vijay and Pujara scoring centuries is only the 5th instance for India where two of the top 3 batsmen scored centuries in same innings against England. Last instance was Sehwag-Pujara scoring ton at Ahmedabad in 2012.

6 – Pujara is only the 6th Indian to make a successful review while batting. 4 out of the 6 successful reviews by India while batting have come in Tests.

Also read – India v England, 1st Test, Day 3 Review: Vijay, Pujara make the Englishmen toil

6 – Murali Vijay has been part of 6 double century stands in Test cricket, the most by any Indian since his debut in November 2008. Next most is Rahul Dravid on 5 occasions.

7 – Murali Vijay now has converted his first 7 Test centuries to 125+ scores. He is only the 3rd batsman to do so. Brian Lara and Greame Smith are the other two.

13 – Vijay-Pujara pair is the 13th Indian pair to put 2000 runs together in Tests. Their average of 65.03 is the best among all the 13 pairs.

25.51 – Percentage of Gautam Gambhir’s dismissals in Tests have come in LBWs, the 2nd highest for any player. Shane Watson’s LBW dismissals’ percentage of 27.36 is the highest. (Min: 100 innings)

73.65 – Pujara’s average while batting in the first match of a Test series, the 3rd best average for any player. Stan McCabe averages 85.58 while Don Bradman averages 79. (Min: 100 runs)

126 – Murali Vijay’s 126 in this game is his shortest Test century among his 7 hundreds so far. His previous smallest is 139 vs Australia in 2010 which was his first Test century.

Also read – India v England, 1st Test Day 3: 5 Talking Points

2009 – Last time before this Test, an Indian opener batted longer than Murali Vijay in first innings of this Test was Gautam Gambhir for 643 minutes in 2009 vs New Zealand at Napier.

2009 – Last time before this Test, first three wickets in first two innings of a Test in India had 25+ run stands was in 2009 match between India and Sri Lanka at Ahmedabad.