India got a healthy 166-run lead over Australia on the third day of the opening Test in Adelaide on Saturday with first-innings centurion Cheteshwar Pujara not out on 40. But Australia had one moment of joy as the late wicket Virat Kohli gave the home team a glimmer of hope.
The Indian captain was dismissed late in the final session as India reached 151/3 at stumps on day three. Kohli lunged forward to defend off Nathan Lyon (1-48) but was caught at short leg for an uncharacteristic knock of 34 (104 balls).
Virat Kohli's current scoring rate of 1.52rpo is the second slowest he's ever recorded in an innings of 70 balls or longer. #AUSvIND
— The Cricket Prof. (@CricProf) December 8, 2018
At close of play, Cheteshwar Pujara was unbeaten on 40 runs, while Ajinkya Rahane was batting on 1 not out. Kohli and Pujara put together a third-wicket partnership of 71 run, coming off 197 balls.
Cheteshwar Pujara has now faced 358 balls in this Test. The last time a visiting batsman faced as many deliveries in an Adelaide Test was Virat Kohli in 2014, who faced 359. #AUSvIND
— The Cricket Prof. (@CricProf) December 8, 2018
In the process, Kohli became the fifth Indian batsman after Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag to score 1000-plus runs in Test cricket in Australia.
Indians with 1000+ Test runs in Australia
Player | Runs in Australia |
---|---|
Sachin Tendulkar | 1809 |
VVS Laxman | 1236 |
Rahul Dravid | 1166 |
Virender Sehwag | 1031 |
Virat Kohli | 1029 |
However, Kohli added his own touch to the record as he became the fastest Indian to reach 1,000 Test runs on Australian soil, getting there in just 18 innings. Whose record did he overtake? VVS Laxman, the original run-piler in Australia.
Subcontinent players quickest to 1000 Test runs in Australia (fewest inns):
— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) December 8, 2018
18 VIRAT KOHLI
19 VVS Laxman
22 Sachin Tendulkar
22 Virender Sehwag
25 Rahul Dravid
26 Zaheer Abbas
28 Javed Miandad#AUSvsIND
Kohli’s 34-run knock on Saturday also gave him a unique record as he became the first Indian captain to score 2,000 Test runs in away Tests. Th 30-year-old has now scored more than 2,000 runs in Test as skipper at both home and away.
He is only the fifth captain to do so, joining the ranks of Allan Border, Ricky Ponting, Graeme Smith and Alastair Cook.
However, his innings in Adelaide also threw up a record he wouldn’t like as Nathan Lyon became the most successful bowler against him in Tests. The Aussie off-spinner has now dismissed Virat Kohli six times, the most by any bowler.
Test bowlers dismissed Virat Kohli most times
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) December 8, 2018
6 - Nathan Lyon
5 - James Anderson
5 - Stuart Broad#AusvInd#AusvsInd
But an addendum to that is that Kohli has also scored most Test runs against Lyon.
The caveat to that is that Kohli has scored more runs off Lyon than he has off any other bowler and averages 54.5 against him. Glass half full? #AUSvIND
— Melinda Farrell (@melindafarrell) December 8, 2018
Before Pujara and Kohli got together to give India a solid edge, the visitors were bolstered by a rare good opening stand as KL Rahul and M Vijay stitched a 63-run partnership between.
The last time Indian openers outlasted 20 overs in a Test outside Asia:
— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) December 8, 2018
V Sehwag & G Gambhir, Centurion, Dec 2010. #AUSvIND
While Vijay got out for 18, Rahul got a good start before a regrettable shot saw him walk back on 44. However, he will take heart from the fact that he went past 40 at least, as big scores have evaded him for most of the year.
This is just the third time that KL Rahul has gone past 40 in Tests out of 20 innings this year. Hopefully, he will convert this into a big one.#INDvAUS
— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) December 8, 2018
KL Rahul is playing a high-risk game. The opener has missed or edged 22% of the balls he's faced so far, around twice the average but he's scoring so quickly that India are moving way from Australia. When he walked out, India's WinViz was at 44% - now, it's 60%. #AUSvIND
— The Cricket Prof. (@CricProf) December 8, 2018
Meanwhile, there was a nice moment for wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant earlier in the day while Australia were still batting. The youngster, in only his fifth Test, matched an old record of MS Dhoni with six catches in the innings.
Most catches as a wicketkeeper in an innings for India:
— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) December 8, 2018
6 - MS Dhoni vs New Zealand, 2009 Wellington
6 - RISHABH PANT vs Australia, 2018 Adelaide #AUSvIND