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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