The eight-wicket victory in the second round of the series in Melbourne becomes more special when you look at what happened to the visitors who entered this match.
The first test, which was a day and night match, saw both teams have the advantage at different stages of the match. But it ended with what was a devastating performance by the Indian team. They were eliminated with a total of 36 test innings lower in their second innings and, as a result, lost the match by eight wickets in three days.
Also in the Boxing Day Test, the team did not have regular players such as talisman captain Virat Kohli (on paternity leave), Mohammed Shami (injured), Ishant Sharma (not on the team due to injury), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (not on the team due to injury), Rohit Sharma (was in quarantine) and Umesh Yadav were injured during the Melbourne test. But Ajinkya rahane & Co didn’t let those things play in his mind.
Instead, led by the reassuring influence of new captain, centurion and player of the match Ajinkya Rahane, the team showed how tough a team is to rebound from a record low in Adelaide to record a morale-boosting victory. .
These are some of the more interesting statistics now in the history books thanks to India’s great comeback victory, which will see visitors finish their year on the top and be more motivated for the third round, which will start on January 7, 2021:
1. This is now India’s 52nd away win, and MCG is their best ‘away’ venue
The 8 wicket victory at MCG is the India team’s 52nd away test win. Interestingly, Melbourne is now the best place in India in terms of away wins. They have won 4 events at the MCG dating back to the 1978 tour.
No other team, except England, has managed to win more than three Tests at the MCG
2. India has become the third team to come back from 0-1 down to win the second round of a series in Australia in the last 50 years.
The first team to do this was the West Indies in Perth in 1975-76. The second team was New Zealand, who came back after being 0-1 down to win the second round in Hobart
3. Since the beginning of this century, India has won more tests in Australia than Australia in India.
This is a very interesting statistic. Although the difference between the two teams is only a victory in the test, India now has the advantage, with 5 victories in 22 tests in Australia this century. The Ausies have 4 victories in 21 events on Indian soil in that time period.
4. India is only the third team to win the next round of the same series after starting for 50 or less
In the first Test in Adelaide, India packed for its all-time lowest Test innings total of 36. The other two teams that have managed to bounce back like this are England, who have done it twice (vs Australia and WI) and Australia (vs SA).
5. There have only been four cases where India won a series after losing the first round. All were in subcontinental condition. History Calls Team India
– England in India, Test Series, 1972/73 (lost, won, won, tied, tied)
– Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Australia in India, 2000/01 (lost, won, won)
– India in Sri Lanka, Test Series, 2015 (lost, won, won)
– Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Australia in India, 2016/17 (lost, won, tied, won)
6. Lasith Malinga is the only bowler to have taken more ground than Mohammed Siraj, as a rookie bowler abroad in Australia
In 2004, in the first test in Darwin, Malinga took 6 plots. Siraj, on his MCG debut took 5 wickets.
7. For the first time in 32 years, no Australian batter in Game XI has scored a fifty in a home test match.
The last time this happened was also at the MCG vs West Indies
8. Ajinkya Rahane becomes the first Mullagh medal winner.
Man of the match of the second test Rahane won the inaugural Mullagh medal. Cricket Australia had announced that the Man of the Match for each Boxing Day Event starting in 2020 will now receive the medal, which is named after Australian Aboriginal off-roader Johnny Mullagh.
By the way, Mullagh, who was part of the Aboriginal team that toured England in 1868, 8 years before the first official series of tests between England and Australia was played in 1876-77, was inducted into the Hall of Fame from Australia on Monday, December 28. 2020 – 152 years after that tour in 1868.
Congratulations to Ajinkya Rahane, the inaugural winner of the Mullagh Medal! Ma’s Boxing Day Test Player… https://t.co/Dhs9Wrgadb
– Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) 1609217563000
9. First instance of Ajinkya Rahane hitting the winning races in a test
Incredibly, Ajinkya Rahane, who has played 67 Tests so far, matched the winning races for India in a Test Match for the first time. Rahane pulled a Nathan Lyon delivery to the square leg back to record the winning run for India on Day 4.
10. India also won a Boxing Day event on December 29, 2010.
On their 2010 tour of South Africa, India beat the Proteas at the Boxing Day Test in Durban by 87 races. That match also ended in four rounds, on December 29.
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