Australia vs India 2014/15 - 4th Test, Day 5: Facts and figures

Australia regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Australia claimed a richly deserved 2-0 series win over India in the four-match Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after a hard-fought draw in the final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Saturday. Going into the final day, India needed an improbable 349 runs from the allotted 90 overs for victory after the hosts declared their second innings on the overnight score of 251/6. But either side couldn’t push for victory on what was a fairly docile fifth day wicket in Sydney, eventually resulting in the match ending in a draw.

Murali Vijay continued his good form in this series as he struck 80 off 165 deliveries at the top of the order, and there were even hopes of an unlikely Indian victory when he was batting along with Virat Kohli (46). But their dismissals in quick succession dashed any such hopes. In fact, India were in danger of losing the Test altogether as they were reduced to a precarious 217 for 7 at one stage. However, Ajinkya Rahane (38*) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (20*) batted out the remaining overs to ensure the series ended only 2-0.

Here are the facts and figures from day five of the Test:

692 – Virat Kohli’s aggregate runs in the series. He was just 8 runs short of achieving the 700-run mark, which would have made him the first Indian batsman to score 700+ runs in a Test series in Australia.

3 – Suresh Raina now has 3 consecutive ducks to his name, having been dismissed on 0 during the second innings of his previous Test against New Zealand at Bangalore in 2012.

4 – Raina became just the 4th batsman in the history of Test cricket to have scored a century on Test debut and then gone on to score pairs on two separate occasions. His previous pair came against England at the Oval, London, in 2011. The three others to have achieved this dubious feat are Alvin Kallicharan, Mark Waugh and Mohammad Ashraful.

23 – Nathan Lyon finished up as the highest wicket-taker of the series with 23 wickets from the 4 Tests. By doing so, he became the first Australian spinner since the legendary Shane Warne to take 20 or more wickets in a Test series.

2012 – It’s been a little over two years since a team drew two consecutive Tests against Australia Down Under. The last instance was when South Africa ended up winning a three-match Test series 1-0.

50 – Raina’s dismissal gave left-arm quick Mitchell Starc his 50th wicket in Test cricket. He has achieved this landmark in 15 Tests and at an average of 35.84.

0 – The number of times India took 20 wickets in this Test series, which aptly sums the team’s bowling travails.

1985/86 – The last time that both the MCG and SCG Tests of a series were drawn was way back in the 1985/86 season. Coincidentally, India were the visiting team on that occasion as well.

128.16 – Australia captain Steven Smith rightly earned the Man-of-the-Series award after notching up a colossal 769 runs at an average of 128.16.

698 – Number of runs scored by Ajinkya Rahane against England and Australia over the past two series. Both these tours were considered a big test of character for the Indian batsmen, and it would be safe to say Rahane has passed with flying colours.