Statistical highlights after the end of the first Test between India and Australia in Melbourne on Saturday.
# Australia's triumph, by 337 runs, is their 7th in 10 Tests against India at Melbourne.
# India's defeat by 337 runs is their third biggest defeat in terms of runs in Test cricket - their top two defeats being, by 342 runs against Australia at Nagpur in 2004-05 and by 341 runs against Pakistan at Karachi in 2005-06.
# India have lost 21 (won 4 & drawn 8) out of 33 Tests played in Australia - Losing percentage 65.62.
# Ricky Ponting became the third Australian captain and the fourth overall to win 30 or more Tests as captain. Steve Waugh (41) heads the table, followed by West Indian Clive Lloyd (36), Allan Border (32) and Ponting (30).
# Ponting's winning percentage (78.94) is the best amongst captains with 20 or more Tests - 30 wins out of 38 (Lost 3 & Drawn 5).
# Ponting is now the only captain in Test annals to have recorded 15 wins in succession - between Dec 26, 2005 to Dec 29, 2007. Steve Waugh, with 12 straight wins (during Australia's sequence of 16 consecutive wins) between October 14, 1999 and December 3, 2000, has the next best record.
# Australia have now won 15 Tests in succession - their second best winning sequence after their record 16 triumphs in a row between Oct 14, 1999 and Mar 1, 2001.
# Matthew Hayden got his 10th Man of the Match award and his second against India. He had got his first MoM award against India for posting 203 & 35 at Chennai in March 2001.
# Anil Kumble has lost his first Test as captain - he has won 1, lost 1 and drawn 2 out of 4 as captain - winning 25 percent matches.
# After five years, India have been dismissed "under 200" in both innings of a Test match - the last occasion being the Hamilton Test against New Zealand in December 2002, where the Indians were dismissed for 99 & 154.
# Yuvraj Singh is without a fifty in his last 9 innings away from home - 23 & 39 vs. West Indies at St John's in 2006; 2 at Gros Islet; 0 & 8 not out at Basseterre; 19 & 13 at Kingston and 0 & 5 vs. Australia at MCG in 2007-08.
# Rahul Dravid has aggregated 606 runs in 19 innings (10 Tests) at an average of 35.64, including one century and three fifties, in 2007 - the worst performance of his Test career. The calendar years 1996 & 2007 are the two years when he has failed to average even 40.00. In his debut year 1996, he had made 436 in 12 innings (7 Tests) at an average of 39.63, including three fifties.
# Both V.V.S. Laxman and Dravid completed their 1500 runs against Australia. The top six batsmen with 1500 runs or more in India-Australia Tests are:
| Batsman | For | M | I | N.O. | Runs | H.S. | Ave. | 100 | 50 | 0 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | Ind | 22 | 41 | 4 | 1936 | 241* | 52.32 | 7 | 8 | 4 |
| Allan Border | Aus | 20 | 35 | 5 | 1567 | 163 | 52.23 | 4 | 9 | 2 |
| Sunil Gavaskar | Ind | 20 | 31 | 1 | 1550 | 172 | 51.66 | 8 | 4 | 2 |
| G Viswanath | Ind | 18 | 31 | 2 | 1538 | 161* | 53.03 | 4 | 9 | 1 |
| V.V.S. Laxman | Ind | 17 | 31 | 1 | 1525 | 281 | 50.83 | 4 | 6 | 1 |
| Rahul Dravid | Ind | 19 | 35 | 4 | 1501 | 233 | 48.41 | 2 | 8 | 2 |
# Sourav Ganguly's aggregate of 1106 (ave.61.44) in 10 Tests is the second best this year, next only to Jacques Kallis -1125 (ave.86.53) in 9 Tests (before his second innings against West Indies at Port Elizabeth).