Laxman's poorest venue in Australia

Whichever way the Boxing Day Test goes in Melbourne, it's highly unlikely that the series scoreline will be 0-0 at the end of the game: the last time a Test match was drawn at the MCG was way back in 1997, when South Africa, requiring 381 for victory, hung on for a draw at 273 for 7. Since then, 13 Tests have all ended decisively, most of them by huge margins. Australia have won ten of them, but have lost two of the last three; most recently, they were humiliated by an innings and 157 runs last year.

Against India, though, their Boxing Day memories are more pleasant: they've won their last four, and all of them pretty convincingly - by eight wickets, 180 runs, nine wickets, and, most recently, by 337 runs in 2007. Overall, Australia have a 7-2 win-loss record at the ground in Tests against India. Their two losses came in 1977 and 1981; in fact, Melbourne is the only venue in Australia where India have won more than one Test.

The big challenge for India, of course, will be the fact that it'll be the first Test of an overseas series. That itself is some cause for worry, given India's tendency to begin series poorly: India have lost the first game in five of their last seven tours (excluding the trip to Bangladesh in 2010). The only time they escaped such a fate was in New Zealand (a win in the first Test, in Hamilton) and the West Indies (win in Kingston). Apart from that, they've been beaten twice in Sri Lanka, and once each in Australia, South Africa and England. In fact, their last Test in Melbourne was also a series opener, and they didn't put up much of a fight then, going down by 337 runs. (The difference this time is a couple of practice games going into the Test, as also the presence of Virender Sehwag, but it remains to be seen how much of a difference these factors will make.)

Since their previous tour to Australia in 2007-08 (including that series), India have a 2-5 win-loss record in the first Test of overseas series. As the table below shows, the record improves significantly later in the series, though that didn't happen on the tour to England earlier this year.

India's record in each Test of an overseas series*

	Matches	Won	Lost	Drawn
1st Test	7	2	5	0
2nd Test	7	2	2	3
3rd Test	7	2	2	3
4th Test	2	0	1	1

* Excludes the tour to Bangladesh in 2010

It also doesn't help that the first Test is in Melbourne, a venue which hasn't been a happy one for India in recent years. The batsmen from the current squad who've played more than one Test here don't have a great record at this ground either. Sachin Tendulkar has been consistent without being as prolific as at some of the other venues, averaging 43 in eight innings. Rahul Dravid has struggled - his strike rate at the ground is 28 runs per 100 balls, but even more surprising are VVS Laxman's stats. He has a splendid record against Australia and in Australia, but not at the MCG: in six innings his scores read thus - 5, 1, 19, 18, 26, 42, which amounts to 111 runs at 18.50. At all the other grounds in Australia he averages 69.28, with seven 50-plus scores in eight Tests.

Virender Sehwag is the exception, with 206 runs in the only Test he played here, in 2003.

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Indian batsmen in Tests at the MCG

Batsman	Tests	Runs	Average	100s/ 50s
Sachin Tendulkar	4	344	43.00	1/ 2
Rahul Dravid	3	185	30.83	0/ 1
VVS Laxman	3	111	18.50	0/ 0

Among the Australian batsmen who've played a fair amount at this ground, Ricky Ponting has by far the best record, with 1216 runs at 57.90. His last four Test innings here have only fetched him 99, but all of Australia will be hoping his overall record here lifts him out of his current slump.

Michael Hussey is another one in a bit of a trough, and his MCG record will give him no inspiration at all - 293 runs in 11 innings at 26.63, of which 122 came in his first effort here, against South Africa in 2005. Leave that out, and his last ten innings have fetched him 171.

The MCG has traditionally been a good venue for seam and swing bowlers, and even if India have any thoughts of playing two spinners, the stats below will surely discourage them from doing so. Fast bowlers have averaged about 29 runs per wicket over the last six Tests here, compared to the spinners' 40.55.

Fast bowlers have done pretty well here, but so have openers: the average partnership at the MCG for the first wicket since the beginning of 2005 is 51.54, which is the highest among all Australian venues. That'll be good news to the openers from both sides, given that neither of them has given their teams great starts through much of 2011.