Statistical highlights of the first
day's play of the third and final cricket Test between India and New Zealand here today.
# Holkar Stadium has become the 22nd Test venue in India. The three Indian venues with most Tests are Eden Gardens, Kolkata (40), Feroz Shah Kotla (33) and Chepauk Chennai (31).
# Virat Kohli (103 not out) has posted his sixth Test hundred as Indian skipper. He had scored three hundreds in his first three innings vs Australia -- 115 & 141 at Adelaide and 147 at Sydney, followed by one each vs Sri Lanka, West Indies and New Zealand.
# In the first match innings, Kohli has recorded three hundreds in Tests -- the first two being 200 vs West Indies at North Sound in July 2016 and 119 vs South Africa at Johannesburg in December 2013.
# Kohli has posted 13 hundreds in Tests -- his third vs New Zealand. His first hundred as captain in Tests in India is his sixth. Just three Indian skippers have registered more hundreds than Kohli in Tests -- Sunil Gavaskar (11), Mohammad Azharuddin (9) & Sachin Tendulkar (7).
# Kohli's average of 53.24 as captain is the highest among the Indian captains in Tests.
# The last Indian skipper to hit a Test hundred vs New Zealand was Sourav Ganguly -- 100 not out at Ahmedabad in October 2003.
# In his previous 17 innings at home, he was without a Test hundred.
# Ajinkya Rahane (79 not out) has posted his tenth fifty in Tests -- his second vs New Zealand. He has also become the 36th Indian batsman to complete 2000 runs or more in Tests.
# Rahane's performance in Tests this year is splendid -- his tally being 458 at an average of 76.33 in nine innings, including a hundred and three fifties. In terms of averages, the 2016 is his best calendar year in Tests.
# Rahane's tally of 458 runs is the highest by an Indian batsman in Tests this year.
# Gautam Gambhir (29) took his aggregate to 998 in his
last 20 Tests (35 innings) at an average of 28.51 including seven fifties.
# Gambhir, in his last 10 Tests at home, has managed 533 runs at an average of 35.53, including four fifties, as compared to his overseas average of 23.25 -- 465 runs in 20 innings (10 Tests), including three fifties.
# Cheteshwar Pujara, with 272 runs at an average of 54.40 in five innings, is the leading run-getter in the present series. He is the only batsman to hit three fifties in the present series.
# Pujara's aforesaid performance is his best ever in a three-Test series.
# Rahane and Kohli have shared four century stand since they started playing Tests together. Only Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay, as a pair, have registered more century partnerships (five) in Tests for India since 2013.
# Kohli and Rahane have shared an unbroken stand of 167 -- India's joint third highest vs New Zealand for the fourth wicket -- the highest being 281 between Sourav Ganguly and VS Laxman at Ahmedabad in October/November 1999.
# The above partnership is the highest by any pair in the present series, obliterating the 141 between Rahane and Pujara for the fourth wicket in the Kolkata Test.
# Rahane and Kohli have managed 1381 runs at an average of 57.54 in 25 innings, including four century stands and seven fifty-plus, in Tests.
