The hard stats: How India crushed the Aussies

The six-wicket win over Australia at Delhi gave India their first whitewash in a four-match Test series. Before this, India had never won four Tests in a series, leave aside winning four matches in a row. After winning the Border-Gavaskar trophy, a jubilant MS Dhoni said: “It is a big boost to win 4-0 with this unit. Credit goes to every one. The last one and a half years has not been great for us in Tests, but they showed a lot of character, put in good performance and battled it out.” [caption id=“attachment_673716” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Pujara in action during the fourth Test. PTI[/caption] He added that the series was a battle and he was glad to come out on top: “You need to battle it out and that was the case in this series. It was up to the individuals to rise up and do well. I think they all did it, everybody performed.” India’s previous best results in a series came under Mohammad Azharuddin when they first blanked England 3-0 at home in 1992-93 and then beat Sri Lanka by innings margin in all three matches in 1993-94. Before that, India had registered a 3-1 series-win over New Zealand in New Zealand under Tiger Pataudi in 1967-68. India’s best results in a series

Australia were whitewashed in a series of three matches or more for the first time since 1982-83, when they lost to Pakistan 3-0 in Pakistan. It was also only the second occasion when Australia suffered a 4-0 drubbing in a four-match series. The only other such occasion was against South Africa in South Africa in 1969-70. Australia getting whitewashed in a series (Min.3-match series)

What makes India’s victory more remarkable is the fact that they had lost 4-0 to same opponents last year. Never before in Test history has a side made a clean-sweep in a four-match series after getting blanked 4-0 themselves against the same opponent in the previous series. Also amazing is the fact that Dhoni lost the toss on all four occasions, yet went on to win the series 4-0. There have been only three instances of a captain losing toss in every match (of a three-match series), yet winning all the games. Interestingly Australia have been involved in all three instances. Captains losing all tosses in the series yet winning every game (Min.3 match series)

 Here is a comparison of two teams’ performance on various parameters in the series. It is clear that India outplayed Australia in almost every aspect.

Performance in the series

Australia have now lost seven Tests in a row on Indian soil (one in 2008, two in 2010 and 4 in 2013), which is the worst losing streak for any visiting side in India. Sri Lanka had lost six in a row between 1986 and 1994. Worst losing streak for a visiting side in India

The seven consecutive defeats in India is Australia’s worst losing streak in any country. They had lost six Tests in a row in South Africa between 1967 and 1994. Australia’s worst losing streaks in a country

India’s four wins in a row in this series also equals their best winning streak in Tests. They had also won four consecutive Tests in 1992-93 & 2009-10 seasons. Most wins in a row for India

The Delhi Test provided the eighth instance of India winning a Test within three days. This was the second such instance against Australia, after the Mumbai Test in 2004-05. India winning a Test in three days

MS Dhoni has now won eight Tests against Australia. Only two captains – West Indies’ Clive Lloyd (12) and England’s Mike Brearley (11) have won more Tests against Australia than Dhoni (England’s WG Grace also had a tally of eight wins). R Ashwin ended the series with 29 wickets against his name — the third best performance by an Indian bowler in a series against Australia. Harbhajan Singh took 32 wickets in a three-match series in 2000-01, while Bishan Singh Bedi took 31 in a five-match series in Australia in 1977-78. Most wickets by Indians in a series vs Australia

Pragyan Ojha – with the wicket of James Pattinson in first innings – completed his 100 wickets in Test cricket. He became 18th Indian to accomplish this feat. Among Indians, Ojha is the joint third quickest to 100 wickets, taking 22 Tests to reach this landmark. Only Erapalli Prasanna (20 Tests) and Anil Kumble (21 Tests) reached the mark quicker. Subhash Gupte and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar also completed their 100 wickets in 22 Tests. Among all left-arm spinners in Test cricket, Ojha is the fourth quickest to take 100 wickets, after Colin Blythe (19), Alf Valentine (19) and Bobby Peel (20). Quickest to 100-wicket mark in Tests for India

 Note: R Ashwin has taken 92 wickets in 16 Tests Quickest left-arm spinners to take 100 Test wickets

Nathan Lyon’s bowling in the first innings and Peter Siddle’s batting in both innings were the only high points for Australia in Delhi. Siddle, in fact, became the first number nine batsman to score fifties in both innings of a Test. He also provided the first instance of a number nine batsman top-scoring in both innings of a Test. Top-scoring in both innings while batting lower down the order

 Note: Germon did this on his Test and captaincy debut. Chasing the victory target of 155, India reached there in just 31.2 overs - scoring at the rate of 5.04 runs per over. India’s run-rate is the highest by any side in a successful fourth innings chase against Australia. Highest run-rate in successful fourth innings chases vs Australia (Chasing 150 runs or more)