Australia vs India 2014/15 - 2nd Test, Day 3: Facts and figures

Steven Smith scored his second century of the series on day 3 of the 2nd Test against India

Australia took firm control on day three of the second Test against India at Brisbane, courtesy of a majestic hundred from Steven Smith and useful contributions from the lower-order. Coming out to bat at 221 for 4, Ishant Sharma gave India the much-needed early breakthrough when he removed Mitchell Marsh, bowled for 11.

Brad Haddin failed with the bat once again after he was caught at short-leg by Cheteshwar Pujara for 6 while trying to fend off a short-pitched ball from Varun Aaron.

But that was one of the last moments of delight for India as Smith and Mitchell Johnson counter-attacked superbly to bring Australia back into the contest. Smith’s rich vein of form continued, and he marched his way to his sixth Test match century. Johnson gave his captain good company, and the duo put on 148 for the seventh wicket to put India on the back foot.

The partnership was finally broken by Ishant in the post-lunch session when Johnson was caught behind by MS Dhoni for 88. Smith followed in the same over, bowled for 133 as India looked to wrap things up quickly in Australia’s first innings.

But Australia were in no mood to relent and added further misery to the already toothless Indian bowling attack as Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood all chipped in with telling contributions. Starc was the last man to go for 52, bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin, and the Aussies were all out for 505.

Coming out to bat in the second innings, India lost the key wicket of Murali Vijay, who made an error in judgement while trying to leave a ball and was duly bowled by Starc for 27. Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara played out the remaining overs of the day to help India finish at 71 for 1, still trailing Australia by 26 runs.

Here’s a look at the stats at the end of day three:

9 - Steve Smith became the ninth Australian player to score a century in his debut Test as captain. The last captain to achieve the feat was Graham Yallop, in 1978. He is also just the second Australian captain to score a hundred against India at Brisbane after Sir Don Bradman.

4 - Courtesy of his innings of 133, Smith also became the fourth cricketer to score a Test ton against India on captaincy debut. The last man to do that was Zimbabwe’s David Houghton in 1992.

101.60 - Smith currently averages an astonishing 101.60 against India in Test cricket.

732 - Number of minutes taken by India in this series to take the wicket of Smith.

9.4 - Brad Haddin averages a mere 9.4 in Test cricket since February 2014.

17 - Mitchell Johnson’s bowling average in Test cricket when he bowls immediately after making a score of 50+.

1 - The first time in Test history that two players have scored hundreds on their captaincy debut in the same series. Virat Kohli scored a century in each innings in the previous Test at Adelaide.

4 - This is the fourth successive time that an Australian captain has scored a hundred at the Gabba. Michael Clarke scored hundreds on each of the previous three occasions.

22 - Number of times four Indian bowlers have given away 100+ runs in the same innings.

109.4 - Number of overs both teams batted in their first innings. This is only the sixth instance that both teams have bowled the same number of overs in their first innings. The last time this feat was recorded was in 2006 in a Test match between South Africa and New Zealand at the Wanderers, where both teams bowled 44 overs each.