Stats highlights from the fourth day of the Adelaide Test between Australia and India

S Rajesh and HR Gopalakrishna27-Jan-2008
Ricky Ponting: 34 hundreds and 64 hundred partnerships in Tests © Getty Images
Ricky Ponting’s 140 is his 34th Test century, which puts him level with Sunil Gavaskar and Brian Lara, and five behind the leader Sachin Tendulkar. It was also his 14th hundred as captain. Only two batsmen – Steve Waugh and Allan Border – have scored more centuries as captain. (Click here for the full list.) The 210-run fourth-wicket stand between Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke is the highest for that wicket for Australia versus India. The previous highest was 178, between Allan Border and Dean Jones in that famous tied Test in Chennai in 1986. The partnership is also the third-highest for the fourth wicket at the Adelaide Oval, and the second-best for Australia. The best is 214, between Border and Jones – again – against West Indies in 1989. The highest fourth-wicket stand here happened in 2006, when Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood added 310. Ponting has now been involved in 64 century stands in Tests, which equals Steve Waugh’s Australian record. The only two players with more hundred partnerships are Sachin Tendulkar (66) and Rahul Dravid (71). Irfan Pathan became the 16th Indian bowler to take 100 Test wickets, and the seventh Indian to achieve the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets. This is the third time in the last five Tests at this ground that both teams have scored in excess of 500 in the first innings. The previous two such matches – involving India in 2003, and England in 2006 – both produced decisive results. The Australian innings lasted 181 overs, which is the most number of overs they have batted in the last ten years. The last time Australia batted longer was nearly 11 years ago, when they played 193.4 overs to score 628 for 8 declared against South Africa in Johannesburg. It’s also the most number of overs any team has batted at the Adelaide Oval since Australia batted 186 overs against the same opposition 16 years ago. (Click here for more.) Despite Australia scoring so many runs, they struggled to dominate the Indian attack, scoring at just 3.11 per over. In innings in which they have scored more than 400 since 2000, this was their second-slowest effort: Australia had scored at 3.09 per over the last time they played at this ground, against England in 2006. (Click here for the full list.) There were four 50-plus scores in the Australian innings, which is the third time they have managed it against India in Adelaide. By a strange coincidence, the three instances have come at a 30-year interval. It was the fourth time Australia had three centuries in an innings against India. Two of those instances have come in Adelaide. It was also only the third time Australia scored 450 for the loss of three wickets or less against India. Anil Kumble conceded more than 100 runs in an innings for the 52nd time in his career, which equals Muttiah Muralitharan’s world record. The 9245 runs that Kumble has conceded overseas is also a record – his performance in this innings pushed Shane Warne to second place. Four Indian bowlers conceded more than 100 runs, which is only the fourth such instance for them against Australia. All four instances have happened in Adelaide.