Trivia on Ranchi’s JSCA Stadium, Venue for Third India-SA Test

India play South Africa in the third and final Test at Ranchi starting 19 October.

In the concluding game of South Africa’s tour of India, the two teams will be clashing in the third and final Test in Ranchi starting 19 October.

After the three-match T20I rubber ended in a 1-1 draw (with one game abandoned due to unplayable circumstances), India won the first two Tests to take an unassailable lead in the series.

Virat Kohli and co won the series opener at Visakhapatnam by 203 runs, and sealed the series with a massive innings and 137-run win in Pune.

Here’s a look at trivia on Tests played at JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi, the venue for the last India vs South Africa game.

• The drawn Test contested between India and Australia in March 2017 remains the only Test played at this venue. The scores in the Test were Australia (451 & 204 for six) and India (603/9d).
  
• Australian captain Steven Smith had scored an unbeaten 178, facing 361 balls – the joint-most faced by him in an innings at that time. He had faced 361 balls during the course of his magnificent 199-run knock in the 2015 Kingston Test against West Indies.
  
• Glenn Maxwell had posted 104 off 185 balls – the only innings of fifty-plus in seven Tests (14 innings) by him.  He had become the second Australian player after Shane Watson to register hundreds in all three formats – Tests, ODIs and T20Is.
  
• Cheteshwar Pujara had faced 525 balls while scoring 202 – the longest innings played by an Indian batsman in Tests.  He had become the first Indian batsman to face 500 balls or more in a Test innings.
  
• In the last 55 years, Pujara remains the only batsman to play an innings of 500 balls or more against Australia in Tests.

Also Read

India vs South Africa: Keshav Maharaj Ruled Out of Ranchi Test

• Wriddhiman Saha (117) posted his third century in Tests. His tally of three hundreds are the second most behind Mahendra Singh Dhoni's six by wicketkeepers for India.
  
• In their second innings, Australia had faced exactly 100 overs – the last instance when they batted for 100 overs in the second innings against India was 133.5 overs at Chennai in October 2004.
  
• For the third time in a Test match in India, Australia, after a deficit of 150 runs or more, could save the Test – the first two instances being in the 1979-80 Delhi Test and the 1986-87 Mumbai Test.
  
• Ravindra Jadeja's excellent figures of 9 for 178 (5/124 and 4/54) are his second best in a Test match behind the 10 for 154 against England at Chennai in December 2016.
  
• Jadeja had bowled 93.3 overs in the above Test – the most by him in a Test match.

• The fifth wicket partnership for Australia had recorded 100-plus partnership in both the innings of a Test match – 191 between captain Steven Smith and Glenn Maxwell in the first innings, and 124 between Shaun Marsh and Peter Handscomb. This was the second instance for Australia when their fifth wicket pair had registered century stand in each innings against India – the first instance being in the 1977-78 Perth Test.
  
• India had faced 210 overs while scoring 603 for nine wickets declared – the most by them against Australia in a Test innings - their fourth highest tally in Tests – the highest being 241.5 while scoring 531 for seven wickets declared against New Zealand in the 1955-56 Delhi Test.
  
• Pujara and Wriddhiman Saha were involved in a stand of 199 – India's highest seventh wicket partnership against Australia in Tests at home.