The most wicket-filled opening day in 122 years

A look at all the key numbers from Day 1 of the ongoing second Test between South Africa and India at the Newlands, Cape Town:

23 – A grand total of 23 wickets fell in Cape Town on Wednesday, the second most on the opening day of a Test match in 147 years of the game’s history, only behind the 25 recorded on Day 1 of the second Ashes 1901/02 Test  between Australia and England in Melbourne. It also happened to be the joint-highest wicket tally on a single day of a Test match in South Africa, alongside the 2011 fixture featuring the hosts and Australia at the same venue.

Most wickets on a single day in Tests

Most wickets on Day 1 of a Test

55 runs by South Africa in their first innings is the lowest all-out total against India in Tests, seven fewer than what New Zealand had managed in Mumbai in 2021.

Lowest all-out totals against India in Tests

23.2 overs taken by India to bundle out South Africa in the first innings, the least ever they have bowled to dismiss an opponent in a Tests. Their previous record was 25.1 overs, when they skittled out the same team for 84 in Johannesburg in 2006 to set up their first ever Test win in the country.

8 instances of South Africa registering all-out totals of 55 or below in Tests, the most for any team, the next most being five each for Australia, England and New Zealand. Interestingly, of the 36 instances of teams getting bundled out for 55 or lower in Tests, seven have come in Cape Town, the most at a venue followed by six at Lord’s.

Overall, it was South Africa’s eighth lowest total in Tests, and their lowest since World War II.

Lowest all-out totals for South Africa in Tests

Lowest all-out totals for South Africa since their readmission

9 – South Africa’s 55 all-out is the ninth-lowest first innings total in Tests. Three of the last four instances – spanning between September 1948 and January 2024 – have come in Cape Town.

Lowest innings totals in the first innings of a Test match

6-15 – Mohammed Siraj’s bowling returns are the third best for an India bowler in Tests in South Africa, only behind Shardul Thakur’s 7-61 in Johannesburg in 2022 and Harbhajan Singh’s 7-120 in the 2011 New Year’s Test in Cape Town.

15 runs conceded by Mohammed Siraj is the second-fewest by an India bowler while bagging six wickets in an innings in Tests, and the fourth-lowest for a five-wicket haul.

Least expensive Test five-fors for India (by runs conceded)

9 overs bowled by Mohammed Siraj, the least delivered by an India bowler to bag a six-wicket haul in Tests. The previous record belonged to Venkatesh Prasad, who bagged 6/33 in 10.2 overs against Pakistan in Chennai in 1999.

6 wickets fell on the score of 153 in the Indian innings, making for the most remarkable of batting collapses in Test history. Never before has a team lost more wickets on a particular score in a Test innings.

Most wickets falling at a particular score in a Test innings

partnership runs added by India’s last five pairs in their innings, the first such instance for any team in the history of Test cricket. Before today, the lowest partnership aggregate for the last five pairs in an all-out Test innings was 3 by England against Australia in Melbourne in 1990, followed by 4 by New Zealand against Pakistan in Auckland in 2001.

6 ducks recorded by India in their first innings is a joint record in Tests. They had previously registered as many against England in Manchester in 2014.

Most ducks recorded in a Test innings

4 – Dean Elgar, who compiled a game defining hundred in the first Test in Centurion, didn’t quite make an impact with the bat in his farewell Test, registering scores of 4 and 12. However, he did cross 1,000 runs against India in the format while at it, becoming the fourth South Africa batter to register 1,000-plus Test runs against the opponent, after Jacques Kallis (1734), Hashim Amla (1528) and AB de Villiers (1334).

8 batters have registered 1,000-plus runs as an opener in Tests against India, Elgar being the latest to do so, finishing with 1012. The other seven batters to have achieved this feat are Alastair Cook (2431), Matthew Hayden (1888), Gordon Greenidge (1678), Graham Gooch (1518), Mudassar Nazar (1210), David Warner (1195) and Geoffrey Boycott (1084).

5121 runs by Dean Elgar is the fourth most aggregate for South Africa as an opener in Tests, after Graeme Smith’s 9018, Gary Kirsten’s 5726 and Herschelle Gibbs’ 5242.