Stats Analysis

A rare draw after a 150-plus deficit

A look at the key numbers coming out of Australia's determined effort to draw the Ranchi Test

Bharath Seervi
20-Mar-2017
Australia saved the Test despite facing a deficit of 152 runs in the first innings

Australia saved the Test despite facing a deficit of 152 runs in the first innings  •  ESPNcricinfo Ltd

2008 The previous time an overseas team saved a Test after facing deficit of 150-plus runs in the first innings in India - England in Mohali, after India led by 151. In this Test, Australia suffered a first-innings deficit of 152 runs. The only other such fightback in the last 10 years was by Pakistan in Kolkata in 2007, after a deficit of 160 runs.
3 Number of Tests saved by Australia after a deficit of 150-plus runs in India. Both those recoveries had come more than 30 years ago - in Delhi in 1979-80 and in Mumbai in 1986-87.
7 Instances of visiting teams playing out the fifth day in India to save the Test having batted 75 or more overs on the final day. Australia batted 92.4 overs on the fifth day of this Test to secure a draw. The last such instance was by South Africa in Chennai in 2008.
Visiting teams playing out the 5th day in India after a first inns deficit (75+ overs on 5th day)
Team 1st-inns Deficit 5th day score 5th day overs Innings score Year
 New Zealand  172  212/2  92  212/2  1955
 New Zealand  275  231/2  82  252/2  1999
 Zimbabwe  227  265/3  85  503/6  2000
 New Zealand  160  224/5  89  272/6  2003
 Pakistan  160  257/6  83.4  214/4  2007
 South Africa  87  200/4  76  331/5  2008
 Australia  152  181/4  92.4  204/6  2017
2004 The last time Australia batted 100 or more overs in their second innings in India - 133.5 overs in Chennai. Since then, in 14 matches before this Test, Australia had got all out on 11 occasions in their second innings in India. This time they played out 100 overs while losing only six wickets.
38 Number of consecutive innings without a century partnership for the fifth wicket for Australia before this Test. They had century stands in both innings in this match for the wicket. The last century partnership for Australia for this wicket was also against India in the 2014-15 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, between Joe Burns and Shaun Marsh at the SCG.
2 Instances of Australia having century partnerships for the fifth wicket in both innings of a Test, both against India. The first was in Perth in 1977-78 where Bob Simpson was involved in both the stands. This match involved four different players for the stand: 191 between Steven Smith and Glenn Maxwell in first innings and 124 between Peter Handscomb and Shaun Marsh in the second. These two partnerships are also two of the three longest stands of this series in terms of balls.
94 Handscomb's control percentage in his unbeaten 72 off 200 balls. His control was better than even Pujara and Smith's innings in the match. Before this innings, his highest score in the series was only 24 and the most balls he faced was 67. Here, he had control percentage of 90 and above against each of the four India bowlers. His partner Marsh had a control percentage of 87 in what was his second fifty of the series.
78 Wickets for R Ashwin in this 2016-17 season - the joint-most by a bowler. He equalled Dale Steyn's tally in the 2007-08 season. The next on this list is Ravindra Jadeja with 67 scalps this season. Ashwin and Jadeja have one more Test to set a new record of this.
9/178 Jadeja's figures - his second-best match figures. He picked 5 for 124 in the first innings and 4 for 54 in the second. He delivered 93.3 overs, which is themost by him in his 29-match career. His previous most was 70 overs in three separate matches, including his debut against England in Nagpur 2012-13.

Bharath Seervi is stats sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @SeerviBharath