Australia vs India, SCG Test: Interesting records from Day 3
Australia gained the wood over India on Day 3 of the ongoing Test at the SCG. After bowling the visitors out on 244, the Tim Paine-led side claimed a massive lead of 197 runs. The likes of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith remained unbeaten even though the two openers departed early on. We take a look at the interesting records from the day.
Indian wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant sustained a blow on his elbow while batting. However, he continued to bat until he was dismissed for 36. Despite not making an impact, Pant now has the most consecutive 25+ scores by a visiting batsman Down Under. He has done so in nine straight innings, eclipsing the record of Viv Richards, Wally Hammond and Rusi Surti, who took eight.
Pant slammed his last ton (159*) at the SCG on the 2018/19 tour. Notably, he has crossed the 20-run mark in each of his nine innings Down Under. His Test scores in Australia read as: 25, 28, 36, 30, 39, 33, 159*, 29 and 36.
Pujara's defiant knock denied the Australian pacers any advantage early on Day 3. He was rather defensive in his approach, however, his resilience on SCG's sluggish track grabbed eyeballs. Soon after, he raced to his half-century, which came off 174 balls, his slowest Test fifty (in terms of balls). His previous slowest fifty came against South Africa (off 173 balls, Johannesburg) in 2018.
Cummins remained the pick of Australia's bowlers in the first innings with figures of 4/29. He bowled in tight lines that disarrayed the middle-order of India. Interestingly, Cummins has now dismissed Pujara four times from five innings in the ongoing series (once at Adelaide and SCG, twice at MCG). The former has conceded mere 19 runs off 129 balls against Pujara.
In the second innings, Ravichandran Ashwin trapped Australian opener David Warner lbw as the latter attempted to sweep. Ashwin has now dismissed Warner the second-most times (10) in Test cricket, also his most bowling dismissals against a batsman. He surpassed the tally of England pace spearhead James Anderson (9). Notably, Anderson's compatriot Stuart Broad still tops the tally with 12 dismissals against Warner.
