By the numbers: Border-Gavaskar Trophy

News

Cricket365
January 11, 2015

The Test series between Australia and India saw the hosts win two-nil, coasting through two draws at the MCG and SCG after taking the games in Adelaide and Brisbane.

There were many memorable moments, both on and off the field, so let's have a look over the past month via the means of statistics.

4 – Skippers. Australia lost Michael Clarke after Adelaide and Steve Smith took over, while MS Dhoni missed the first game through injury and the last through retirement, leaving the side to Virat Kohli.

408 – Common shirt number. The number of the series, aside from 63 not out, as the Australians paid continuous tribute to Phillip Hughes and his cap number. The batsman passed away just a week before the series was due to begin, and everything was pushed back a bit.

213 – Most runs in a session. Day four at the SCG saw the Australians play an ODI innings, with Chris Rogers, Steve Smith and Brad Haddin racking up the runs.

769 – Smith's runs. The Australia stand-in skipper was by far the top run-getter in the series, and also broke the record for the most runs in a series, previously held by Sir Donald Bradman.

9 – Skipper tons. Smith made four centuries, Kohli also bagged four, while Clarke scored the other. Two of Kohli's centuries came in Adelaide, though they were in vain as the Aussies won.

6 – Chris Rogers fifties. The Australia opener scored six half tons, the most by anyone, and his top score 95. He averaged 60.52 without hitting a single six.

262 – Highest partnership. Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane put this together for the fourth wicket in Melbourne, as the side made 465 all out.

6×100 – Lyon's efforts. Spinner Nathan Lyon conceded more than 100 runs six times during the series, the first time this had been done since 1958. On the plus side…

23 – Lyon's wickets. He was the top wicket-taker by a good margin, with India's Mohammed Shami the next best on 15. Lyon's average was above 34 though, as he was quite expensive.

45 – Yadav's horror spell. The India paceman went for 15 runs an over, three overs in a row, which was the world spell of bowling in Test history. This was on day four at the SCG.

2 – Bowlers to play all four Tests. Only Lyon and Shane Watson featured with the ball in all four matches.

4 – Debutants. Karn Sharma in Adelaide, Josh Hazlewood in Brisbane, Joe Burns and KL Rahul in Melbourne.

3 – Smith's Man of the Match awards. Only Ryan Harris broke the monopoly. Smith was also the obvious pick for man of the series.

9 – Dhoni's MCG dismissals. The now former India skipper was excellent behind the stumps in what turned out to be his final Test. He took four catches and a stumping in the first innings alone. He made 11 and 24 not out with the bat.

145 – Warner's top score. The opener made three centuries, two of which, including this one, came in Adelaide. He had failures in Brisbane and Melbourne, but bounced back with another ton in Sydney.

1 – Spider Cam incidents. The only blight on Smith's series was his amusing gesture towards the Spider Cam above his head when he dropped a catch at the SCG. It went high, but didn't hit the 'F@*#ing wire' as Smith claimed.