Stats - Head's pink-ball delight and Rohit's 2024 misery
The numbers that describe the highs and lows from the second day of the Adelaide Test
Sampath Bandarupalli
07-Dec-2024
111 Balls needed by Travis Head to reach his century against India. He surpassed his previous record of 112 balls against England in Hobart in 2022. Head also holds the third fastest century in day-night Tests, scoring off 125 balls against the West Indies in 2022, also at the Adelaide Oval.
3 Centuries scored by Head in day-night Tests across 13 innings. Only Marnus Labuschagne has more centuries in day-night Tests than Head, with 4 tons in 15 innings.
35.13 Difference between Head's batting average against India and his average against other teams in Tests since 2023.
He has accumulated 656 runs in 11 innings against India, averaging 65.60, with two centuries and two fifties. In contrast, against other opponents in the same period, he scored 701 runs in 23 innings at an average of 30.47, with a century and four fifties.
1 Mitchell Starc dismissed Shubman Gill for the first time in Test cricket. Gill scored 162 runs in 13 innings against Starc, facing only 177 balls, with 23 fours and two sixes.
11.83 Rohit Sharma's batting average in Tests for the 2024-25 season is the second lowest for a captain in a Test season with a minimum of ten innings while batting in the top six. Jeff Crowe has the lowest average, with 11.80 across ten innings in the 1987-88 season.
Rohit has been dismissed for a single digit in eight out of 12 innings this season, the joint second-most for a captain, behind Mominul Haque's nine in the 2021-22 season.
3 Instances of Rohit getting dismissed for a single digit in both innings of a Test match in 2024 - against Bangladesh in Chennai, New Zealand in Pune, and Australia in Adelaide.
Among Indian players batting in the top six, only Virender Sehwag (4 times in 2006) has been dismissed for a single digit in both innings of a Test more often than Rohit. Ashok Mankad (1971) and Aakash Chopra (2004) also had three such instances.
Sanath Jayasuriya (in 2001) and Mominul (in 2022) are the only other captains with three instances of single-digit dismissals in both innings of a Test in a calendar year while batting in the top six.
Sampath Bandarupalli is a statistician at ESPNcricinfo