Jonny Bairstow saved England the blushes after his half-century helped the team amass 268 for 8 after an early flurry of wickets.
Here are the statistical highlights from the first day’s play of the third cricket Test between India and England in Mohali on Saturday.
# Jonny Bairstow (89) registered his highest Test score vs India, surpassing the 53 at Visakhapatnam in the second Test of the ongoing series.
# The above two innings, in fact, are Bairstow's highest scores in nine Tests in Asia. His only other fifty in Tests in Asia is 52 vs Bangladesh at Chittagong in October 2016.
- PHOTOS: Bowlers give India edge despite Bairstow's 89
- Mohali Test: Bairstow's defiance takes sloppy England to 268 for 8
# Bairstow's above innings (89 off 177 balls) is his 13th fifty in Tests.
# Bairstow's run tally of 1340 (ave.67.00) in 15 Tests is the highest by any batsman this year in Tests apart from the highest ever by a wicketkeeper in a calendar year in Tests.
# Bairstow has managed 10 fifty-plus knocks (3 hundreds + 7 fifties) as number five or lower in Tests in 2016. He became the third player to achieve the distinction of scoring ten fifty-plus innings in a calendar year. Shivnarine Chanderpaul had registered four hundreds and six half-centuries in 2002 and Angelo Matthews had recorded two centuries and eight fifties in 2014.
# Bairstow's average as wicketkeeper in Tests is superb -- his tally being 1552 (ave.55.42) in 19 Tests.
Among the wicketkeepers with at least 1500 runs in Tests, his average is the second best behind the 57.41 in 24 Tests by Abraham de Villiers.
# Andy Flower is the only other batsman among the wicketkeepers with at least 1500 runs in Tests to have averaged 50-plus - 4404 runs in 55 Tests at an average of 53.70.
# Bairstow enjoys an outstanding record in the first innings, amassing 1091 runs at an average of 72.73, including three centuries and six fifties, in 17 innings. Among the batsmen with 1,000 runs in the first innings of a match in Tests, his average is the sixth highest -- the top three being Don Bradman (113.66), Steven Smith (90.08) and Bill Ponsford
(82.00).
# Alastair Cook's tally of 2575 (ave.55.97) in 26 Tests is the highest by an overseas batsman in the subcontinent. He became the first visiting batsman to appear in 50 innings in Tests in Asia.
# Jos Buttler averages 60-plus vs India in Tests -- his tally being 243 in four innings, including two fifties -- his best against any opponent.
