• The HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala became the 27th ground to host a Test in India and the 114th overall in Test cricket history.
• Kuldeep Yadav became India’s 288th Test player and also India’s first ever chinaman bowler. Incidentally, he is the only second chinaman bowler from the subcontinent after Sri Lankan Lakshan Sandakan (in July 2016).
• Kuldeep (4/68) became the third chinaman bowler to take a four-plus wicket haul on Test debut after Chuck Fleetwood-Smith (4/64) in 1935 and Rangika (4/58) in 2016.
• Ajinkya Rahane is India’s 33rd Test captain and interestingly has never captained a first-class side before this Test.
• For the first time in his Test career, Virat Kohli is missing a Test because of injury. He last missed a Test against West Indies at Calcutta in November, 2011 when he was dropped because of poor form. Since then, he has played 54 Tests in a row until this one.
• Steve Smith made his 20th Test century in his 99th innings and his 7th against India in his last eight Tests. Only Don Bradman (55 inns), Sunny Gavaskar (93) and Matthew Hayden (95) took fewer innings than Smith to reach their respective 20th Test century.
• By making his third century in the series, he emulated Alastair Cook by becoming the only second visiting captain to register three centuries in a Test series in India.
• Ravichandran Ashwin has taken his tally of wickets this season in Tests to 79, the most by any bowler in a Test season. He surpassed Dale Steyn’s 78 wickets during the 2007-08 season.
Mohandas Menon
