Nagpur: Statistical highlights on day one of the third cricket Test between India and South Africa here.
# Morne Morkel's three for 35 are his best in India in Tests, surpassing the three for 63 at Kanpur in April 2008. # Morkel's performance is his second best when not with Dale Steyn in the same team - his best being four for 97 vs England at Birmingham in 2008.
# During his innings of 40 off 84 balls, Murali Vijay has become the first Indian batsman to amass 500 runs in Tests in 2015 -- his aggregate being 502 (ave.62.75) in nine innings (six Tests).
# Since posting 126 vs Sri Lanka at Colombo (PSS) in August 2015, Ajinkya Rahane has lost form in Tests, scoring 8 & 4 vs Sri Lanka at Colombo (SSC); 15 & 2 at Mohali and 13 at Nagpur in the current series vs South Africa.
# Rohit Sharma is averaging only 9.40 in Tests vs South Africa -- his aggregate being 47 in five innings -- the sequence of scores being 14 & 6 (Johannesburg), 0 & 25 (Durban) and 2 at Nagpur.
# Ravindra Jadeja's 34 is his highest score as number eight batsman in Tests in India -- his second highest at this batting position in Tests behind the 68 off 57 balls vs England at Lord's in 2014.
# Jadeja's innings is the fifth highest by India's number eight batsman against India in Tests. The top two innings have been recorded by MS Dhoni at this batting position -- 132 not out at Kolkata in 2009-10 and 90 at Centurion in December 2010.
# Jadeja and Saha put on 48 -- India's second highest partnership vs South Africa for the seventh wicket at Jamtha, Nagpur behind the 50 between Saha and Harbhajan Singh in February 2010.
# Imran Tahir has completed his 50 wickets (ave.42.32) in 19 Tests to become the 31st South African bowler to accomplish the feat.
# Stiaan van Zyl has registered his first duck in Tests. Ravichandran Ashwin has taken his wicket in all four innings in the series. No other bowler has dismissed him more than once.
# Wriddhiman Saha (32 off 106 balls) has registered his second highest score in Tests in India -- the highest being 36 off 101 balls vs South Africa at Nagpur in February 2010.
# The above two instances are the only ones when Saha has faced 100 balls in an innings in Tests on Indian soil.
# Simon Harmer has taken four wickets in an innings for the first time in consecutive Tests -- 4 for 61 at Mohali and 4 for 78 at Nagpur -- both vs India. The only other occasion when he took four wickets in an innings was vs West Indies on Test debut -- four for 82 at Cape Town in January 2015.
# Harmer has completed his 250 wickets in first-class cricket -- his tally being 251 at an average of 33.74 in 67 matches.
# Murali Vijay has completed his 7,000 runs in first-class cricket -- his tally being 7,000 runs at an average of 46.05, including 17 hundreds, in 95 matches.
# After three years, two fifty-plus partnerships in a row have been registered for the first wicket for India in Tests. Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan have posted 80 (unbroken) in the first innings at Bangalore and 50 at Nagpur.
# The Indian spinners have so far taken 29 wickets at an average of 12.20 -- the best average by Indian spinners in a Test series.
# In the current series, 34 wickets have fallen on the first day of the three Test matches so far -- the record in a Test series on Indian soil is 42 during the 1952-53 series between India and Pakistan.
