India Vs South Africa 2019/20: Third Test – Statistical Highlights

The hosts India completed their whitewash in the three-match Test series against South Africa after winning the final Test of this series at Ranchi by an innings and 202 runs.

After winning the toss, the Indian captain Virat Kohli decided to bat first. India managed to score 497/9 in the first innings before their declaration. In reply, the visiting side South Africa were bundled out for just 162 runs in their first innings.

The hosts enforced the follow-on and the Proteas side once again faced the batting collapse. This time they were bundled out for just 133 runs.

After winning this Test match, India won this three-match Test series by 3-0.

Brief Scores: India – 497/9 decl. (Rohit Sharma 212, Ajinkya Rahane 115; George Linde 4/133)

South Africa – 162 (Zubayr Hamza 62, George Linde 37; Umesh Yadav 3/40) & 133 (Theunis de Bruyn 30, George Linde 27; Mohammed Shami 3/10)

Result – India won by an innings and 202 runs

Here are some of the statistical highlights of this match:

Teams’ stats

India

i) The hosts India hit 47 sixes in this Test series. It is the most number of sixes for a team in a Test series as the previous record was 40 sixes by Australia in Ashes 2013/14.

ii) India won this Test match by an innings and 202 runs. It is the largest Test victory (by an innings) for any team during the Test match between India and South Africa. The previous record-holder was also the Indian national cricket team as they beat South Africa by an innings and 137 runs in the previous Test at Pune. Also, it was India’s sixth-largest Test victory (by an innings).

iii) India won this three-match Test series by 3-0. It is the first time when India successfully managed to whitewash South Africa in the Test series.

South Africa

i) In the entire Test match, the visitors South Africa only faced a total of 626 balls. South Africa played the lowest number of balls in a whole Test match against India, when they batted in both innings of the Test match. The previous lowest was 647 balls which South Africa faced during the Mohali Test in November 2015.

India and South Africa

i) The total number of sixes in this Test series were 65. It is the joint-most number of sixes in a bilateral Test series. The Ashes 2013/14 also finished with 65 sixes.

Players’ stats

India – Batting

(Rohit Sharma)

i) Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma scored his ninth international century as an opener in 2019. After Sachin Tendulkar (1998), Graeme Smith (2005) and David Warner (2016), Rohit became the fourth opener to hit nine international centuries in a calendar year. No other opening batsman has surpassed this record.

ii) Rohit Sharma hit 19 sixes in this Test series. It is the record number of sixes for a batsman in a Test series. The previous record was 15 sixes by Shimron Hetmyer during the two-match Test series in Bangladesh in November 2018.

iii) Rohit Sharma became the fourth batsman to hit at least one double century in both the Test and ODI format. The other cricketers in this list are Sachin Tendulkar (India), Virender Sehwag (India) and Chris Gayle (West Indies).

iv) Playing his 51st Test innings, Rohit Sharma (51 Test sixes) hit 50th Test sixes. He became the sixth Indian batsman but also the fastest Indian batsman to hit 50 Test sixes. MS Dhoni was the previous record-holder as he reached the 50 Test sixes in 78 Test innings.

(Ajinkya Rahane) 

i) Indian Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane scored his eighth Test century at the no.5 batting position. It is the joint-second most Test centuries by a no.5-positioned Indian batsman. Polly Umrigar also hit eight Test centuries at this position while Mohammad Azharuddin is leading this list with 16 Test centuries at the no.5 batting position.

(Umesh Yadav)

i) In the first innings, Umesh Yadav scored 31 runs off just 10 balls with the strike-rate of 310.00. It is the highest strike-rate for a batsman who faced at least 10 balls in a Test innings. The previous record was 281.81 by the New Zealand cricketer Stephen Fleming (31* off 14 balls against South Africa at Auckland in September 2004).

India – Partnership

(Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane)

i) During the first innings of this Test, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane put the 267 runs partnership for the fourth wicket. It is the third-highest Test partnership for India against South Africa for any wicket. The top two records in this list are 317 runs between Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma for the opening wicket (at Visakhapatnam in October 2019) and 268 runs partnership between Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid for the second wicket (at Chennai in March 2008).

South Africa – Fielding

(Heinrich Klaasen)

i) On his Test debut, South African wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen managed to make four dismissals during the first innings. It is the joint best performance in an innings by a Test debutant South African wicketkeeper. David Richardson was the first South African wicketkeeper who also managed four dismissals during the third innings of his debutant Test match (against West Indies at Bridgetown in April 1992).

South Africa – Bowling

(George Linde)

i) Debutant left-arm spinner George Linde had the bowling figures of 31-2-133-4. It is the second most expensive bowling figures in an innings by a South African spinner on his Test debut. The record-holder is Ian Smith with the bowling figures of  51-15-143-4 (against England at Nottingham in June 1947).

India – Fielding

(Wriddhiman Saha)

i) Indian wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha completed 100 international catches as a wicketkeeper. At the end of this game, Saha has taken 103 international catches as a wicketkeeper. Saha is the fifth Indian wicketkeeper to take 100+ international catches.

India – Bowling

(Umesh Yadav)

i) During South Africa’s first innings of this Test, Indian pacer Umesh Yadav managed his fifth successive three-wicket haul in the Test innings in India. After Courtney Walsh (West Indies), Umesh became the second pacer to claim five consecutive three-wicket hauls in the Test innings in India.

South Africa – Batting

(Faf du Plessis)

i) South African captain Faf du Plessis scored just five runs (1 and 4 runs) in this Test match. It is the lowest aggregated score for a South African captain in a Test match against India when the captain batted in both innings. The previous record was 10 runs (8 and 2 runs) by Faf du Plessis during the Johannesburg Test in January 2018.