Bengaluru, Sep 2: After three days of competitive cricket, the second Test between India and New Zealand is interestingly poised at the end of Day 3. While the hosts made inroads in the Kiwi line-up to reduce them to 232/9, they will still need to pull out all stops in order to win this contest in the fourth innings.
Meanwhile, on the individual front, Virat Kohli registered his first Test ton on Indian soil. The Delhi batsman now has scored seven international centuries this year. New Zealand’s Tim Southee also had a great outing, and picked up seven wickets and also reached the 50-wicket mark in Tests. Here are these and many more interesting statistics from Day 3:
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Virat Kohli (103) scored his second Test hundred in his 10th Test. The other hundred had come against Australia – 116 at Adelaide in January 2012.
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This hundred was Kohli’s seventh in international cricket this year (two in Tests and five in ODIs) – most by any batsman. Interestingly, all other Indian batsmen have managed just four hundreds combined, this year.
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Every time Kohli has batted in a Test innings on Indian soil, he has at least scored a fifty! Kohli’s Test scores in India: 52 and 63 (v West Indies, Mumbai, 2011), 58 (v New Zealand, Hyderabad, 2012) and 103 (v New Zealand, Bangalore, 2012).
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MS Dhoni (62) has now crossed fifty on 21 occasions as captain in Test cricket. Only Sunil Gavaskar (25) has more 50-plus scores while captaining India.
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Tim Southee (7/64) recorded his best figures in Test cricket, beating 5/55 against England at Napier in 2008.
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Southee’s figures are the second best by any New Zealand bowler against India after Richard Hadlee’s 7/23 at Wellington in 1976. The previous best figures by a New Zealand bowler on Indian soil were 6/27 at Mohali in 1999.
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Southee’s wicket of MS Dhoni was his 50th in Test cricket. He became the 32nd New Zealand bowler to reach the 50-wicket milestone in Test cricket.
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Ross Taylor, while on 10, completed 3,000 runs in Test cricket. He became the 12th New Zealande batsman to reach this milestone.
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R Ashwin (5/69) took his fifth five-wicket haul in his eighth Test – all his five-fors have come in five Tests at home.
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In the five Tests Ashwin and Ojha have played together, they have taken 73 wickets at an average of 19.58. All other Indian bowlers have taken 24 wickets at an average of 49.91
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Ashwin has now taken his tally of wickets to 49. If he manages to take the remaining New Zealand wicket tomorrow, he will become the quickest Indian to reach the 50-wicket mark in Tests. Anil Kumble currently holds this record; he took 10 matches to reach this mark.
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India will be chasing a target of at least 245. The highest successful fourth innings chase at Bangalore is only 207/3 by India against Australia in 2010.
