After a whole host of limited-overs series, Team India and its fans are gearing up for a mouthwatering Test series. Next up for India will be the touring Aussies. India and Australia are scheduled to play four Tests, starting from February 9.
This will be overall the 16th edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which was initiated from the 1996-97 series.
Since then, India have won nine series out of 15 completed so far, while Australia have won five. One series ended in a draw.
As the two teams gear up for the first Test, which will be played in Nagpur, TimesofIndia.com takes a look at some of the biggest records and interesting statistics for the India vs Australia Test cricket rivalry:
1. India enjoy a success percentage of 29.41 in Tests vs Australia, winning 30 and losing 43 out of 102 contested (Tied 1 and Drawn 28).
2. Sachin Tendulkar is one of three batsmen to have managed 3,000-plus runs vs Australia in Tests.
3. Tendulkar's aggregate of 3630 (ave 55.00) in 39 Tests is bettered only by England's Jack Hobbs - 3636 (ave 54.26) in 41 Tests. England's David Gower is the only other batsman to have amassed 3000-plus runs vs Australia.
4. Tendulkar's tally of eleven hundreds in Tests vs Australia is bettered only by Jack Hobbs. However, Tendulkar's tally of 20 hundreds across formats vs Australia is a world record.
5. Harbhajan Singh, by dismissing Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne off successive deliveries in the 2000-01 Kolkata Test, accomplished India's first hat-trick in Tests.
6. India (171 & 657/7 decl.) defeated Australia (445 & 212) by 171 runs at Kolkata in March 2001. The said instance provided the third occasion when a team lost the Test after enforcing a follow-on.
7. Australia remain the only team to earn the above dubious distinction on all three occasions that this has happened. The first two occasions being at Sydney in 1894 and at Leeds in 1981 - both times vs England.
8. With their defeat in the Kolkata Test in March 2001, Australia's winning streak of sixteen Tests was broken.
9. Harbhajan Singh's impressive tally of 32 wickets (ave 17.03) in the 2000-01 series remains an Indian record against any opponent in a three-Test series. He remains the only Indian bowler to capture 30 wickets in a three-Test series.
10. VVS Laxman remains the only Indian batter to manage 500-plus runs in a three-Test series vs Australia - 503 (ave 83.83), including a hundred and three fifties, in 2000-01.
11. Laxman's career-best fantastic knock of 283 off 452 balls at Eden Gardens, Kolkata in March 2001 remains an Indian record for the highest individual innings vs Australia in Tests.
(File image of R Ashwin celebrating the dismissal of Steve Smith - Getty Images)
12. Anil Kumble is the only bowler to complete a century of wickets in Tests involving India and Australia.
13. Virat Kohli remains the only Indian batter to hit four hundreds in a Test series vs Australia - in Australia in 2014-15.
14. Kohli, with 692 runs (ave 86.50) in the four-Test series in 2014-15, holds a record for the highest run-aggregate in a series for India vs Australia.
15. Three Australian batters have managed 700-plus runs in a Test series vs India - 769 (ave 128.16) in the four-Test series in Australia in 2014-15 by Steven Smith; 715 (ave 178.75) in the five-Test series in Australia in 1947-48 by Sir Donald Bradman and 706 (ave 100.85) in the four-Test series in Australia in 2003-04 by Ricky Pontng.
16. Kohli was the second batsman in Test annals to post two hundreds (115 & 141 - at Adelaide in December 2014) on captaincy debut - the first being Greg Chappell (Australia) - 123 & 109 not out vs West Indies at Gabba, Brisbane in 1975-76.
17. Kohli is the only captain to register two centuries in a Test match against Australia in Australia. He is the second Indian batsman (and the sixth overall) in Test Cricket to register a century in each innings of a Test match in Australia - the first Indian batter being Vijay Hazare - 116 & 145 at Adelaide in January 1948. England's Herbert Sutcliffe, Wally Hammond, Denis Compton and West Indian, Rohan Kanhai are the other four batsmen to have achieved the distinction against Australia in Australia.
18. Kohli scored 256 runs in the 2014 Adelaide Test - the most by any batsman on captaincy debut, obliterating New Zealand's Graham Dowling's tally of 244 (239 & 5) against India at Christchurch in 1967-68.
19. Mahendra Singh Dhoni enjoys a success percentage of 61.53 as captain - winning eight, losing four and drawing the remaining one out of 13 Tests played vs Australia.
20. One of the two visiting batsmen to have recorded three hundreds at Adelaide, Kohli is averaging 98.50 (394 in four innings) - his sequence of scores being 116 & 22 in January 2012 and 115 & 141 in December 2014). England's Jack Hobbs had registered three hundreds in ten innings at this venue.
21. Kohli remains one of only two Indian captains to have managed a hundred in the fourth innings of a Test - 141 off 175 balls vs Australia in December 2014. Mohammad Azharuddin was the first to accomplish the feat - 106 off 162 balls vs Australia at Adelaide in January 1992.
22. VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid had shared a stand of 376 for the fifth wicket in the 2000-01 Kolkata Test - a record stand for any wicket for India vs Australia in Tests.
23. Just one other century stand is higher than the above Laxman/Dravid's stand in India-Australia Tests - 386 for the fourth wicket by Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke in the 2011-12 Adelaide Test.
24. Craig McDermott had bagged 31 wickets at 21.61 runs apiece in the five-Test series in Australia in 1991-92 - the best performance by an Australian bowler in a Test series vs India.
Stats Courtesy: Rajesh Kumar
