Stats - India's longest fourth innings in 40 years
Also, Pant and Pujara break a 72-year-old record
Gaurav Sundararaman
11-Jan-2021
1979 - The previous time India batted for longer in the fourth innings than the 132 overs they batted in this Test. On that occasion, India batted 150 overs against England at The Oval to save the Test. The Oval and SCG Tests included, India have batted longer than 100 overs in the fourth innings of a Test on only five occasions since 1979.
6 - Number of instances of any team batting more than 130 overs (or the equivalent of 130 six-ball overs) to save a Test in Australia. It has happened only twice since 1971. The previous instance was when South Africa batted 148 overs in 2012.
256 - Balls played by Hanuma Vihari and R Ashwin in their sixth-wicket partnership. There have only been three instances of more balls played for the sixth wicket in the fourth innings, in a win or a draw. The highest is 353, by Adam Gilchrist and Justin Langer against Pakistan in Hobart in 1999.
2 - Number of longer sixth-wicket stands for India in the fourth innings. The 256 balls played by Vihari and Ashwin helped India to draw, but the top two instances came in losses: KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant added 204 in 267 balls in 2018 against England, while Sachin Tendulkar and Nayan Mongia batted 266 balls in 1999 against Pakistan.
148 - Runs added by Cheteshwar Pujara and Pant for the fourth wicket. This is the highest fourth-innings fourth-wicket stand for India, eclipsing a 72-year-old record held by Vijay Hazare and Rusi Modi, who added 139 against West Indies in Mumbai.
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97 - Pant's knock was the second-highest score by a visiting wicketkeeper in the fourth innings in Australia. Only England's Alan Knott scored more than this, in 1975 in Adelaide. Pant has scored 512 runs at an average of 56.88 in 10 innings in Australia, and has scored 25 or more in each of his ten innings there.
3 - Wickets lost on the final day by India. Only once since 2001 has three or fewer wickets fallen on the final day in Australia. This was when South Africa played 126 overs to save a Test in Perth in 2005.
128 - Balls faced by R Ashwin in the fourth innings - it ranks fifth on the list of most balls faced by an India No. 7 in the fourth innings.
134 - Innings played by Pujara to reach the 6000-run mark in Tests, making him the 11th from India to get to that milestone. Only five of them have taken fewer innings to get there: Sunil Gavaskar (117), Virat Kohli (119), Sachin Tendulkar (120), Virender Sehwag (123) and Rahul Dravid (125).
Gaurav Sundararaman is a senior stats analyst at ESPNcricinfo