India in Australia: Win-loss record, best batsmen, strike bowlers and a Bumrah special

Australia and India renew their fierce rivalry in a four-Test series that begins with a day-night game in Adelaide on Thursday.

India won a Test series for the first time Down Under when the sides clashed two years ago and Australia are determined to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. But India, under Virat Kohli, won’t take a step back.

The win on the last tour has given the team a lot of confidence and with many of the players from the last tour still around, they will take that into the first Test.

India won’t be intimidated and they have slowly but surely started to become better travellers but their record in Australia over the years hasn’t been a great one.

Here’s a look at every series India has played Down Under:

Bucking the trend

A big problem for India on their Australia tours has been their batting. The extra bounce on the Australian pitches made the forward press of most Indian batsmen problematic and often caught them out.

But there were some batsmen who managed to find their feet even in these alien conditions. Sachin Tendulkar tops the run-scoring charts for Indians in Australia and Kohli comes in second.

Mohinder Amarnath and Ravi Shastri are not part of the table below but they too did pretty well. Amarnath scored 668 runs in 8 matches (13 innings) at an average of 55.66 while Shastri scored 391 runs in 6 matches (7 innings) at an average of 55.85. Of course, 206 of Shastri’s runs came in the course of one innings.

Well bowled

India’s struggles in Australia started with their batting and ended with their bowling. The batsmen struggled with the bounce and so did the bowlers. Long accustomed to pitching it up, India’s bowlers usually failed to make the adjustment quickly enough.

But there were some who managed pretty well. Leading the pack, as expected, is Kapil Dev with 51 wickets at a very fine average of 24.58. He didn’t have much support in the pace bowling department in those days but he did a fine job of shouldering the load.

Special Bumrah

Jasprit Bumrah doesn’t make the list above because he has just played four matches in Australia. But he has taken 21 wickets in those four matches at an average of just 17 – by far the best average of any Indian bowler who has taken more than 20 wickets in Australia.

There has been talk of how Australia are looking to play him differently but it remains to be seen whether Bumrah is the same bowler too. He is more experienced now and that should be a factor too. It will be interesting to see whether he can follow in the footsteps of Richard Hadlee and Curtly Ambrose to make Australia a happy hunting ground.

Stats courtesy ESPNcricinfo