Statsman: K.L. Rahul's feat as Test opener

K. L. Rahul's 123 in Centurion was the highest score by an Indian Test opener in South Africa.

KL Rahul scored a hundred in the first Test against South Africa at Centurion.

2 The number of three-figure Test scores by Indian openers in South Africa. K. L. Rahul's 123 in Centurion was also the highest score by an Indian Test opener in South Africa. For the record, since SA's return to Test cricket in 1992, the highest score by a visiting opening batter in South Africa is the unbeaten 185 by Michael Atherton in Johannesburg in December 1995.

Highest individual Test scores by Indian openers in South Africa

Runs	Batter	M Inns	Venue	Month, Year	Result	Bat position #
123	K. L. Rahul	1	Centurion	Dec 2021	W	1
116	Wasim Jaffer	1	Cape Town	Jan 2007	L	1
97	Murali Vijay	1	Durban	Dec 2013	L	2
93	Gautam Gambhir	2	Cape Town	Jan 2011	D	1
80	Gautam Gambhir	3	Centurion	Dec 2010	L	1

 

5 The number of three-figure Test scores registered by K. L. Rahul as a Test opener outside Asia. Only Sunil Gavaskar has more centuries as an opener outside Asia for India. New Zealand and Zimbabwe are now the only two countries not in his list. However, he is yet to appear in any Tests in these two nations.

Most Test centuries by Indian openers outside Asia

100s	Opener	Mat	Inns	HS	50s		Eng	Aus	WI	SA	NZ
15	Sunil Gavaskar	45	81	221	15		2	5	7	—	1
5	KL Rahul	20	35	158	2		2	1	1	1	—
4	Virender Sehwag	33	59	195	7		1	2	1
3	Vinoo Mankad	11	19	184	2		1	2		—	—
3	Ravi Shastri	12	19	206	1		2	1

 

Note: Since 2015, Indian openers have registered six centuries in Tests outside Asia. Rahul has to his credit five of these centuries. Rohit Sharma (127 at the Oval in September 2021) is only other Indian opener to make a Test century outside Asia.

 

READ: Nathan Lyon joins 400-club

242 The number of balls (40.2 overs) faced by the Indian opening pair of Mayank Agarwal and K. L. Rahul in the first innings in Centurion. This is now the longest faced by any visiting opening pair in South Africa since the Aussie openers Phil Hughes and Simon Katich put on 184 runs in 43.5 overs (263 balls) in Durban in March 2009.

 

Longest opening stands in South Africa by visiting sides since 2010

Balls	Overs	Partnership	Opening pair	Venue	Start Date	Inns	Result
242	40.2	117	Mayank Agarwal, K. L. Rahul (Ind)	Centurion	Dec 26, 2021	1	Won
219	36.3	101	Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss (Eng)	Cape Town	Jan 3, 2010	4	Drawn
219	36.3	174	Phil Hughes, Shane Watson (Aus)	Johannesburg	Nov 17, 2011	2	Won
196	32.4	87	Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva (SL)	Port Elizabeth	Dec 26, 2016	4	Lost
196	32.4	107	Zak Crawley, Dom Sibley (Eng)	Johannesburg	Jan 24, 2020	1	Won

 

6 The number of Indian wicketkeepers to claim 100 dismissals in Test cricket. Rishabh Pant, in the first innings in Centurion, became the latest to join the list for India. In reaching this landmark in his 26th Test match, Pant became the quickest to reach the 100th dismissal mark by a wicketkeeper for India in Tests. Both M. S. Dhoni and Wriddhiman Saha took 10 Tests more and achieved their 100th dismissal in 36 Tests.

 

Fewest Tests to reach 100 dismissals in Test cricket by Indian wicketkeepers

Tests	Wicket-eeper	Dism	Ct	St	Achieved in	Against	Venue	Result
Final Test Career tally
									Dism	Ct	St	Tests
26	Rishabh Pant	101	93	8	Dec 2021	SA	Centurion	Won	106	96	8	26
36	MS Dhoni	102	84	18	Mar 2009	NZ	Hamilton	Won	294	256	38	90
36	Wriddihman Saha	101	90	11	Nov 2019	Ban	Kolkata	Won	104	92	12	39
39	Kiran More	100	86	16	Oct 1992	Zim	Harare	Drawn	130	110	20	49
41	Nayan Mongia	100	93	7	Feb 2000	SA	Mumbai WS	Lost	107	99	8	44
42	Syed Kirmani	100	77	23	Feb 1980	Eng	Mumbai WS	Lost	198	160	38	88

Note:Syed Kirmani was the first wicketkeeper to achieve the 100-dismissals mark for India.

 

11 The number of Indian bowlers to claim 200 or more Test wickets. Mohd Shami became the latest to do so in the Centurion Test match. He also became the fifth Indian pacer to achieve this landmark. Among Indian pacers, Shami by doing so in his 55th Test match, is the third quickest after Kapil Dev (50) and Javagal Srinath (54). However, in terms of balls, Shami is the quickest Indian to reach this landmark. He needed fewest number of balls — 9896 — to reach this landmark. The previous quickest R. Ashwin achieved his 200th wicket landmark off his 10248th ball.

Fewest Test matches to reach 200 Test wickets among Indian pacemen

Tests Reqd	Bowler	Achieved on	Balls	Wkts	Ave	S/R	Age
50	Kapil Dev	Mar 15, 1983	11066	200	29.33	55.33	24y-68d
54	J Srinath	Nov 5, 2001	12476	202	29.90	61.76	32y-66d
55	Mohd Shami	Dec 28, 2021	9897	200	27.10	49.49	31y-116d
63	Zaheer Khan	Mar 20, 2009	12533	200	34.28	62.67	30y-164d
65	Ishant Sharma	Sep 1, 2015	13047	200	36.51	65.24	26y-364d

3 The number of Test defeats for South Africa at Centurion Park. In 27 Test matches at this venue, the home side has won 21 (Win% 77.78), lost three and drawn three. It was South Africa's first defeat at this venue after winning seven consecutive Test matches from December 2014 to December 2020. Australia was the last side, before India, to win a Test here in February 2014, when it won by 281 runs.

READ: Bumrah is India's top wicket-taker

South Africa's three defeats at Centurion Park

Date of loss	Result	Home captain	Visiting captain
January 18, 2000	England won by 2 wickets+	Hansie Cronje	Nasser Hussain
February 15, 2014	Australia won by 281 runs	Graeme Smith	Michael Clarke
December 30, 2021	India won by 113 runs	Dean Elgar	Virat Kohli

Note:+ this was the infamous Test match when both sides forfeited their middle innings

 

4 The number of Test victories for India in Boxing Day Test matches. This was its third consecutive Test win in such matches. India had previously won its 2018 and 2020 Boxing Day Tests in Melbourne. Despite winning its last three Boxing Day Tests, India has a rather dismal record since its first such Test match in 1985. In 17 Tests, India has won just 4, but lost 10 and drew 3 (%win 23.53).

 

India's four Boxing Day Test match victories

Date of victory	Venue	Results	Indian captain
December 29, 2010	Durban	Won by 87 runs	M. S. Dhoni
December 30, 2018	Melbourne	Won by 137 runs	Virat Kohli
December 29, 2020	Melbourne	Won by 8 wickets	Ajinkya Rahane
December 30, 2021	Centurion	Won by 113 runs	Virat Kohli

 

8 The number of Test victories registered by Team India in the calendar year 2021. This is now the joint second-most it had achieved in a single year. In 2010 too, India had eight Test wins to its credit. However, its best is the nine Test wins achieved in 2016. Incidentally, four Test wins in 2021 have come outside Asia, which equals its best in 2018.

Most Test victories for India in a single calendar year

Year	Won	Tests	Lost	Draw	Win%	Home	Away
2016	9	12		3	75.00	7	2
2010	8	14	3	3	57.14	4	4
2021	8	14	3	3	57.14	4	4
2017	7	11	1	3	63.64	4	3
2018	7	14	7		50.00	3	4
2019	7	8		1	87.50	5	2

 

All records are correct and updated until the end of the Centurion Test on Dec 30, 2021