Stats - Cape Town the shortest completed Test ever
The second Test broke some long-standing records, and came close to breaking a few more iconic ones
Sampath Bandarupalli
04-Jan-2024
642 Total number of balls bowled in Cape Town, making it the shortest completed Test ever. The previous shortest Test lasted 656 balls, played between Australia and South Africa in Melbourne in 1932.
1 India's seven-wicket win at the Newlands is their first victory at the venue, failing in their previous six attempts. It was also India's first Test win while batting second in South Africa, as their four previous wins came batting first.
2 Test matches won by India where none of their batters got a fifty-plus score. Virat Kohli's 46 was the highest individual score here, while Murali Vijay's 40 was the highest during their 124-run win against South Africa in Nagpur in 2015.
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4 Men's Test matches hosted at Newlands that finished in two days - South Africa against England in 1889 and 1896, and South Africa against Zimbabwe in 2005 are the others. Kennington Oval is the other venue with as many as four two-day Test matches.
8 Five-plus wickets for Jasprit Bumrah in the 28 Test matches outside Asia, the joint-second most for an Indian. Only Kapil Dev has more five-fors outside Asia in Tests than Bumrah - Nine in 45 games.
Three of Bumrah's nine Test five-fors have come in South Africa, the joint-most for an Indian bowler, alongside Javagal Srinath.
2 Instances of two six-plus wicket hauls by Indian pacers in a Test match, including Mohammed Siraj and Bumrah in Cape Town. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma did the same against England at Lord's during the 2014 tour.
60.23 Percentage of South Africa's second-innings total scored by Aiden Markram. It is the highest contribution for an individual in a completed Test innings for South Africa. The previous highest was 59.89% by Herbie Taylor, who scored 109 out of 182 against England in Durban in 1913.
8.83 Ratio between Markram's 106 and the second-highest innings score (Dean Elgar's 12) in the fourth innings. It is the second-highest ratio between the highest and second-highest individual score in an all-out innings in men's Tests.
Charles Bannerman holds the record as his 165 in the first-ever Test match in 1877 had a ratio of 9.17, as the second-highest score was 18* by Tom Garrett.
12 Dean Elgar's score is the second highest for South Africa in their second-innings, behind Markram's 106. It is the lowest 'second-highest' individual score in an all-out innings featuring a century. The previous lowest was 13 when Daryll Cullinan scored 103 against Sri Lanka in Centurion in 1998.
Markram also became the first batter to score a century despite no other teammate scoring 20 runs in any innings (where teams got bowled out twice) in a Test match. Kyle Verreynne's 15 in the first innings is the second-highest individual score for South Africa in this Test.
Sampath Bandarupalli is a statistician at ESPNcricinfo