Stats: Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara enter elite list

Srihari
Vijay and Pujara brought up another milestone on day two
Vijay and Pujara brought up another milestone on day two

Centuries from Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara helped India take complete control of the second Test after day two in Nagpur. At the end of the day, the hosts finished with a lead of 107 with Pujara and Virat Kohli still at the crease.

Earlier in the day, Pujara and Vijay combined for a 209-run partnership for the second wicket, which was their third double century partnership and helped India take the lead. Although Vijay got out to a Herath full toss on 128, Pujara continued his vigil, getting to his 14th Test ton and ending the day unbeaten on 121 along with captain Kohli, who brought up another Test fifty.

Here are some interesting statistical highlights from day two:

4 - Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara have now added four consecutive century stands in Tests. They joined an elite group of pairs, with Sam Loxton-Neil Harvey, Sanjay Manjrekar-Mohammad Azharuddin, Marcus Trescothick-Mark Butcher and Mohammad Yousuf-Younis Khan being the others.

0 - Against no other country does Cheteshwar Pujara have more Test centuries than Sri Lanka (4). He also has four Test tons against England.

1 - Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara have the highest partnership average of any Indian pair in Tests (min 2,000 runs). Their average currently stands at 72.10 with Kohli-Rahane in second with an average of 62.69.

1 - Only Dean Elgar (5) has more Test centuries in 2017 than Cheteshwar Pujara (4).

2 - Only two Indian openers, Sunil Gavaskar (33) and Virender Sehwag (22) have scored more centuries than Murali Vijay (10). He overtook Gautam Gambhir (9) and is now in third place.

3 - Cheteshwar Pujara became just the third player after Dean Elgar and Dimuth Karunaratne to score 1,000 Test runs in 2017.

3 - Vijay and Pujara have the third-highest average for any pair in Tests at home (min 1500 runs). Their average of 89.09 is only bettered by Clarke-Ponting (96.72) and Hobbs-Sutcliffe (93.04)

5 - Only five Indian pairs have more century partnerships in Tests than Vijay and Pujara, who have 10. Sachin-Dravid (20), Dravid-Laxman (12), Ganguly-Tendulkar (12), Chauhan-Gavaskar (11) and Gambhir-Sehwag (11).

7 - Vijay and Pujara are one of only seven batting pairs in the history of Tests to have an average of over 70 (min 2,000 runs).

9 - Vijay and Pujara have been involved in nine century partnerships at home in just 22 innings.

10 - Pujara and Vijay are 10th on the list of most runs by an Indian pair in Tests. They have currently added 2,740 runs at an average of 72.10

19 - This was Virat Kohli's 19th 50+ score as captain in 2017, an Indian record, equaling Rahul Dravid's tally from 2006.

43 - Vijay and Pujara are now 43rd on the list of most runs as a pair in Test history.

Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download CricRocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more! 🚀☄️

Quick Links