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Murali Vijay’s 144 among most runs scored by an Indian on Day 1 of overseas Test

Murali Vijay's 144 is among the most runs scored by an Indian in overseas Test matches.

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Murali Vijay's 144 at Brisbane was his 5th Test century © Getty Images
Murali Vijay’s 144 at Brisbane was his 5th Test century, and fourth against Australia © Getty Images

Murali Vijay scored 144 runs on the first day of the Brisbane Test against Australia. The knock by the opener is among the most runs scored by an Indian in overseas Test matches. Bharath Seervi highlights Vijay’s feat and related statistics.

In the second test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2014-15 at Brisbane, Murali Vijay scored a fine century on the first day after India won the toss and elected to bat first. He scored 144 runs before being dismissed before the end of first day.

Vijay’s aggregate is the second highest number of runs by scored on first day of a Test for India in Australia. It was bettered only by Virender Sehwag, who had scored 195 runs on the first day of the Boxing Day test in 2003.

In fact, Vijay is only the fifth Indian to score over 100 runs on the opening day of a Test in Australia. Gundappa Viswanath was the first to do so in 1981 at MCG when he scored 114. Sunil Gavaskar, during his innings of 172 at SCG in 1986, had scored 132 at the end of Day One. The other batsman is Sachin Tendulkar in the 2007-08 series at Adelaide Oval, where he scored 124 of his 153 on Day One.

100 or more runs for India on the opening day of a Test match in Australia

Batsman Day One Final score Venue Date
Virender Sehwag 195 195 MCG 26-Dec-03
Murali Vijay 144 144 The Gabba 17-Dec-14
Sunil Gavaskar 132 172 SCG 02-Jan-86
Sachin Tendulkar 124 153 Adelaide Oval 24-Jan-08
Krishnamachari Srikkanth 116 116 SCG 02-Jan-86
Gundappa Viswanath 114 114 MCG 07-Feb-81

Most number of runs on the first day of a Test match in Australia by visitors

Batsman 1st day Final score Venue Date
Brian Lara 202 226 Adelaide Oval 25-Nov-05
Virender Sehwag 195 195 MCG 26-Dec-03
Bob Barber 185 185 SCG 07-Jan-66
Michael Vaughan 177 177 Adelaide Oval 21-Nov-02
Wally Hammond 167 231* SCG 18-Dec-36
Garry Sobers 152 168 SCG 13-Jan-61
Mohsin Khan 152 152 MCG 26-Dec-83
George Ulyett 149 149 MCG 10 Mar 1882
Chris Broad 146 162 WACA 28-Nov-86
Murali Vijay 144 144 The Gabba 17-Dec-14

 

Vijay’s 144 runs is the tenth-most runs on Day One of a Test match in Australia by visitors. Considering the amount of Test Cricket that has been played in Australia since 1877, it is a remarkable achievement. This also shows the dominance of Australian bowlers at home, especially at The Gabba. Vijay’s 144 runs are the third highest among Asian batsmen behind Sehwag (195) and Mohsin Khan (152).

At The Gabba, only one visiting batsman had scored over 100 on the first day before Vijay: Garry Sobers slammed 132 on December 9, 1960 during the first tied Test.

Let us have a look by similar performances by Indians in the other countries.

100 or more runs by Indians on opening day of an away test match

Host Batsman Day One Final score Venue Date
England Sourav Ganguly 136 136 Trent Bridge 04-Jul-96
Ravi Shastri 135 187 The Oval 23-Aug-90
Vijay Manjrekar 133 133 Headingley 05-Jun-52
Sachin Tendulkar 123 177 Trent Bridge 05-Jul-96
Murali Vijay 122 146 Trent Bridge 09-Jul-14
Rahul Dravid 110 148 Headingley 22-Aug-02
Virender Sehwag 106 106 Trent Bridge 08-Aug-02
Ajinkya Rahane 103 103 Lord’s 17-Jul-14
New Zealand Mohammad Azharuddin 103 103* Wellington 26-Dec-98
Pakistan Virender Sehwag 228 309 Multan 28-Mar-04
Sanjay Manjrekar 132 218 Lahore 01-Dec-89
Yuvraj Singh 112 112 Lahore 05-Apr-04
South Africa Sachin Tendulkar 155 155 Bloemfontein 04-Nov-01
Virat Kohli 119 119 Wanderers 18-Dec-13
Wasim Jaffer 116 116 Newlands 02-Jan-07
Virender Sehwag 105 105 Bloemfontein 04-Nov-01
Sri Lanka Virender Sehwag 201 201 Galle 31-Jul-08
Sadagoppan Ramesh 143 143 Colombo (SSC) 24-Feb-99
Vinod Kambli 119 125 Colombo (SSC) 27-Jul-93
Navjot Sidhu 111 111 Colombo (RPS) 02-Aug-97
Rahul Dravid 107 107 Colombo (SSC) 25-Feb-99
West Indies Virender Sehwag 180 180 Gros Islet 10-Jun-06
Navjot Sidhu 116 116 Sabina Park 28-May-89
Sachin Tendulkar 113 117 Queen’s Park Oval 19-Apr-02
Sunil Gavaskar 102 124 Queen’s Park Oval 13-Apr-71

 

In England, the highest have been 136 runs by Sourav Ganguly in his career’s second Test at Trent Bridge in 1996. On the recent tour to England, Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane got into the list. There have been only one such feat in New Zealand. It was by Mohammad Azharuddin (103) in 1998-99 at Wellington. Sehwag tops the lists in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies, while Sachin Tendulkar has the highest among Indians in South Africa.

(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SeerviBharath and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SeerviCricket)

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