Australia vs India: 5 Unnoticed things from the First Test 

The much-anticipated Test series for the cricket fans in 2018 has finally arrived. The under-fire Team India on the quest of winning an overseas tour began their pre-match preparations in full swing. Both the teams were ready for a thriller. On a seemingly good wicket to bat on, Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to bat first.

But, soon the demons of every previous overseas tour resurfaced to haunt Indian batsmen, who once again failed to spend time and apply themselves to the wicket. Within no time India was reduced to 41/4 with all ridiculous shot selections. It was Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma who stitched together a decent partnership to keep the scoreboard ticking.

But, Australia was relentless in their attack to dismiss Indian batsmen at regular intervals. India managed to post a par score on the board, courtesy a magnificent and clinical century from Pujara.

Australia felt they had restricted India to a below-par score on the Adelaide wicket, but soon found themselves to be on the same boat. The pitch was indeed tricky unless batsmen spent time. Australia somehow came closer to India's first innings total with the help of quality half-century from Travis Head.

But, India successfully managed to get a slender lead of 15 runs. India's second innings began with cautious minds in form of KL Rahul and Murali Vijay. Both the openers stuck in there to see off the first spell from Aussie quicks. Rahul started to dominate the bowlers slowly with his aggressive shots.

But, both openers fell in quick succession to slow things down a bit. But once again Pujara got to the task and played a wonderful hand. Indian vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane too compiled a resilient half-century. But India lost the last wickets very cheaply and India posted a total of 323 for Australia.

India believed they had too many runs on the board to take a lead in the series. The fourth innings pitch is never easy to score runs. Australia kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Shaun Marsh and captain Tim Paine looked very positive in their approach. Indians looked good for an easy victory after the Aussie captain was back in the pavilion.

But, Australia put up a rearguard with their tailenders to deny an easy victory to India. Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood hung in there till the end. It was Ashwin who got the all-important breakthrough to give India their First match Test victory in Australia! India won it by 31 runs and take the 1-0 lead in the four-match Test series.

Here are 5 unnoticed things from the match.

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#1 Pujara played 200+ balls in both innings of the match

Pujara had a dream Test match to start the series

Before the series, all the hype around Kohli and his batting meant rest of the players to rise to the occasion. Pujara did exactly the same. He always loves zero attention and he proved it again. When everybody in the top-order failed to get going against the strong Australia attack, it was Pujara who adjusted his play according to the conditions and reaped rewards in the end.

In the first innings, Pujara scored a match-defining century to help India post a reasonable total on the board. He scored 123 runs in 246 balls. He followed it up with another fine half-century knock in the second innings where he scored 71 runs playing 204 deliveries. In the process, Cheteshwar Pujara became the fourth Indian batsman to face 200 balls on both innings of an overseas Test match after VS Hazare, MAK Pataudi and Rahul Dravid.

#2 Virat Kohli crossed 2500 runs for 3 consecutive years

Another feather in the cap for Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli is a familiar name among the cricket fraternity. He has made the cricketing world to take notice of him with his class and superficial consistency. In his 10 year career so far, Virat has been able to achieve the legendary status to his name with all his run-making abilities.

Rest assured there are many more to come if he maintains the same passion for another 5 years. He failed to score big in the first Test at Adelaide, but with what he scored Kohli added another feat to his illustrious career.

With his scores in the first innings and second innings, Virat Kohli became the first batsman in the history of cricket to score 2500 runs for three consecutive years. Kohli scored 2595 runs in the year 2016, 2818 runs in the year 2017, and 2513* runs in the year 2018.

#3 Indian bowlers record for most wickets in Overseas Tests in a calendar year

Pace bowlers saw India back in the game

The fact that whole India believed that Team India could win an overseas Test series was based on the belief that the current Team India had the firepower in the bowling department to take 20 wickets in a match.

With the likes of experienced Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, and talented Jasprit Bumrah, team India had a potent bowling attack to win matches overseas.

They did live up to the expectations and achieved a record for most wickets picked by Indian bowlers in a calendar year playing overseas Test series. The previously held record of most wickets tally was in the year 2006, where they had scalped 147 wickets in a year.

But, this year Indian bowlers scalped 158* wickets to set a new record. Sadly, the batting of Team India let them down in most away Test matches. And India failed to register an overseas series victory although the bowlers gave it all.

#4 India became the first team to win a Test in Australia, South Africa, and England in the same year.

Unique feat under Kohli's leadership

After the failures in South Africa and England, India arrived in Australia to put up a dominant performance. Though Team India failed to win the series in South Africa and England due to their late bloom. After losing the initial Test matches, India came back strongly to win the last match of the series to salvage some pride.

With today's victory in Adelaide, Team India became the first team to win a Test match in Australia, South Africa, and England in the same calendar year. Also, Virat Kohli became the first Asian captain to win a Test match in Australia, England, & South Africa.

This is some achievement that most captains dream of. Having won the first match of the series, India will definitely look to go for a rare series victory in Australia.

#5 Ajinkya Rahane's unique contribution to the matches Indian won overseas in 2018

'Cometh the hour, Cometh the man'

When Ajinkya Rahane arrived onto the international scene for India, he carried the reputation of being a specialist overseas batsman for Team India. He had his first five Test centuries overseas before he scored his first century at home. Ajinkya is a player with abundant talent and nobody denies that.

Although he was on a dry patch for the past 1 year, the team management persisted with him because he had the skill to deliver when it mattered the most.

Whenever Team India has won a Test match overseas in 2018, Rahane has been a rich contributor in that match. When India won the Test match at Johannesburg in South Africa, he scored 48 important runs on a minefield like a wicket. Similarly, when India won their Test match against England at Nottingham this year, Rahane scored 81 runs of 131 balls to help Team India.

And today once again, India won their First Test match at Adelaide, Rahane has contributed a match-defining 70 runs along with Pujara to help in team's cause.