Border-Gavaskar Trophy records: Most runs, head-to-head and more stats

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is the clash of two titanic Test teams - India and Australia. It is named after Australia’s Allan Border and India’s Sunil Gavaskar, celebrating the record-breaking careers of the two former cricketers. The duo were the first players to cross the 10,000-run mark in Tests.

The India-Australia Test series is one of the most exciting duels in the international cricket calendar. Fans, not just from the two nations, but across the world are usually glued to the enticing action between the teams.

The Indian cricket team took on the Australian cricket team in 50 Tests between 1947 and 1996 before the rebranding of Tests between the two nations. Since then, there have been 15 editions of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. India has won nine, Australia has won five, while only one series has ended in a draw.

Overall, there have been 27 Test series between India and Australia with the former winning 10 of these and the latter winning 12, while five ended in draws. Interestingly, India has won each of the last three Border-Gavaskar series by a 2-1 scoreline with the last two of these coming in Australia and the one prior to that in India. 

Let’s deep-dive into the Border-Gavaskar Trophy records. 

Border-Gavaskar Trophy head-to-head record

Border-Gavaskar Trophy records and stats

Highest team total

India hold the record for the highest team total in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Sachin Tendulkar, revered as the God of Cricket, smashed the Australian speedsters at Sydney, en route his unbeaten 436-ball 241. VVS Laxman, too, amassed 178 as India posted a mammoth total of 705/7d in the first innings in January 2004.

Meanwhile, Australia’s highest team total in this head-to-head is 674, scored in Adelaide in January 1948.

Lowest team total

The Indian cricket team was bundled out for 36 at Adelaide in the 2020-21 edition of the series and it is the lowest team total in India vs Australia Tests. While Josh Hazlewood ripped through the Indian batters, boasting figures of 5/8, Pat Cummins also scalped four wickets. It was the first Pink-ball Test between the two teams.

So far, India have registered four totals below 100 in this fixture, while the Aussies have three. Australia’s lowest total in this fixture is 83 which they made in Melbourne in 1981 in what was a losing cause.

Most runs

Former Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar has scored the most runs in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The Little Master amassed 3,630 runs in only 39 matches, averaging 55.00. Tendulkar has slammed 11 tons and 16 fifties against Australia in this format.

Ricky Ponting, the Aussie ex-skipper, ranks second with 2,555 runs and VVS Laxman is third with 2,434 runs in India-Australia Tests. 

Here's a look at Tendulkar scoring the first of his 11 Test centuries against Australia. 

A star right from the start! ⭐

To celebrate his birthday, enjoy Sachin Tendulkar's first Test hundred in Australia at the SCG back in 1992. #AUSvIND | @sachin_rt pic.twitter.com/uRBGigPsqF

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) April 24, 2020

Most wickets

India’s Anil Kumble has scalped 111 wickets against Australia, the most wickets by any bowler in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He is the only player with 100-plus Test wickets in this head-to-head. The former leg-spinner boasts the fourth-most wickets in Test cricket history.

Kumble averaged a wicket every 30.32 runs in this fixture, while maintaining a steady economy rate of 3.09. His exploits include 10 five-wicket hauls in an innings and two 10-fors in Tests against the Aussies.

Australia’s Nathan Lyon has an opportunity to cross the 100-wicket landmark in India-Australia Tests in the 2023 edition. He currently has 94 wickets in 22 matches against India, the most by any Aussie bowler.

Highest individual score

Michael Clarke, the former Australian captain, is the only batter to score a triple-hundred in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. His marathon unbeaten innings of 329 runs from 468 balls at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in January 2012 included 39 fours and one six. It enabled Australia to win the Test by an innings and 68 runs.

VVS Laxman’s 281* and Ricky Ponting’s 257 also headline the 20 double-centuries slammed in India-Australia Tests.

Best bowling figures in an innings

Spinners have enjoyed huge success in this format in matches between the two sides. Former Indian off-spinner Jasubhai Patel picked up nine wickets, while conceding only 69 runs in 35.5 overs, against Australia in Kanpur in December 1959. It is the best bowling figures in an innings.

Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Kapil Dev and Jason Krejza, meanwhile, have scalped eight-wicket hauls in an innings in this fixture. Kapil Dev was the only pacer among the six cricketers.

Best bowling figures in a match

Former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who was a cult hero in India-Australia Tests, registered the best bowling figures in a match. Affectionately known as Bhajji, his splendid bowling performance in Chennai in March 2001, showcasing figures of 15/215, helped India win a nail-biting Test match.

Jasubhai Patel, who claimed a nine-four in the first innings of the above-mentioned Kanpur Test, finished the match with 14 wickets, ranking him second on this list.

Highest partnership

Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke hold the record for the highest partnership in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The duo stitched a stand of 386 runs for the fourth wicket at the Adelaide Oval in January 2012 after electing to bat first. The partnership formed the backbone for a 298-run Australian victory.

Meanwhile, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman’s famous partnership of 376 runs at Eden Gardens in March 2001, when the duo batted an entire day, is second on the list. Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara’s 370 at Hyderabad in March 2013 completes the top three.

Photo credits: Alamy