India registered a famous win against Australia today in the Boxing Day Test Match at Melbourne. The Indians who were written off by fans and experts alike after their shock defeat at Adelaide in the first Test, came roaring back to notch up a fabulous win over the Aussies. It was a complete team performance spearheaded by their stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane who led his troops admirably. The bowling lineup stuck to their plans brilliantly while the batting department took the attack to the opposition. The debutants too played a crucial role in India’s win with which they have levelled the Border-Gavaskar trophy 1-1. Stumpsandbails brings you 7 interesting facts about India’s epic win against the Aussies.
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#7 India’s 4th win at Melbourne is their most at an overseas venue
India’s win at MCG today was their 4th win at this venue. Before this, they had won matches in 1977, 1981, and 2018. With this win, Melbourne has become India’s happy hunting ground overseas. Prior to this win, India had 3 wins in away venues like Port of Spain, Sabina Park, Colombo, and Melbourne.
#6 Australia for the first time failed to score 200 after batting for 100 overs
Indian bowling was at its disciplined best in the Boxing Day Test match. They restricted the home team batsmen to score freely. Australia had scored just 196 runs in 100 overs. It was the first time that the Australian team failed to score even 200 after having batted for 100 overs. (The score read 196-9 in 100 overs)
#5 No Australian batsman scored a 50 in either innings (first time in 3 decades)
None of the Aussie batsmen could kick on to make a half-century in either innings. Marnus Labuschagne who scored 48 on the opening day of the Boxing Day Test remained the highest scorer for Australia in the game while Cameron Green (45) was the top-scorer for the hosts in the second innings. Incidentally, the last time this happened for Australia (32 years ago) was also at the MCG when they squared up against the West Indies.
#4 Jasprit Bumrah equals Anil Kumble’s long-standing record at the MCG
Jasprit Bumrah picked up 6 wickets in the Test match thereby snaring up 15 wickets in total at the MCG. Bumrah needed just 4 innings to grab 15 wickets, as he had picked up a 9-fer in the Boxing Day Test in 2018-19. During this process, he equalled Anil Kumble’s record of 15 wickets at the MCG but he took 6 innings to get there.
#3 Steve Smith dismissed for a duck in the first innings for the first time ever
Steve Smith was dismissed for a duck in the first innings when he was dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin. This was the first instance in Smith’s career when he was dismissed without scoring in the first innings of a Test match. Interestingly Smith was dismissed for nought after 4 years, the last time being Perth, Australia in 2016.
#2 Debutant Mohammad Siraj sizzles at the MCG
Mohammad Siraj grabbed 5 wickets in the Test match thereby becoming the first visiting debut bowler since Lasith Malinga in 2004 to pick up 5 wickets at the MCG. Siraj etched his name in history by becoming only the fourth visiting bowler in the last 50 years to claim five or more wickets on Test debut in Australia.
#1 Ajinkya Rahane equals Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s record
Ajinkya Rahane who was the stand-in skipper for India in this test match equalled Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s record of winning the first 3 test matches as captain. Rahane and Dhoni are the only 2 Indian captains to have won their first 3 Test matches as captain. Rahane has earlier led India to victory against Australia in 2017 and Afghanistan in 2018.
