First we look at India’s performance at the Gabba ground in Brisbane, which has been holding Tests since 1931-32. India played its first Test here in 1947-48.
India has lost 6 of the 7 Tests here, with one being drawn.
Some points of interest:
The Test in 1947 was India’s first ever against Australia. India was dismissed for 58 and 98, thanks to left-arm paceman Ernie Toshack who took 5-2 (!) and 6-29. The match figures of 11-31 are the 4th most economical 10-wicket haul in all Tests.
India lost narrowly in 1977 against a weakened team led by RB Simpson, who was playing his first Test in 10 years. Gavaskar scored the first of his 3 second-innings centuries in this series.
The 2003 draw was significant as it was the first time that India had not lost the opening Test of a series in Australia. This was mainly due to captain Ganguly’s 144.
Australia has played 62 Tests at the Gabba. They have won 40, lost 8, drawn 13 and tied 1.
We look at their record since 1980:
Here we see that Australia has
won ALL 7 Tests in a row since Nov 2013.
and has not lost a test here since Nov 1988.
However, they had lost 3 Tests in a row from 1984 to 1986 before this.
So if India win (or even draw) this Test it would be a remarkable achievement-particularly as they may struggle to have 11 players fit in this match.
We also look at the Pant-Saha comparisons.
First, the dismissal rates for Indian players outside India since 2010 (when Saha made his debut).
Here we get Pant leading with 2.23 dis/innings, followed by Dhoni with 2.10 and Saha with 1.48
And batting averages for Indian players outside India for the same period:
First is Tendulkar with 57.03. Pant is 9th with 36.00 (2 centuries and one fifty), and Saha is 23rd with 27.28 (1 century and 3 fifties).
A pity that sloppy wicket-keeping is hidden by a higher career dismissal rate.
abn397 