India’s fast bowling superiority analysis

Seamers who succeed Down Under win series for their sides — South Africa with Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn, England with James Anderson and Stuart Broad. Now the Indian pace battery of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma is about to enter the pantheon of all-time greats

■ India’s fast bowlers have been better than Australia’s through the series. India’s pacers have found more swing and seam, bowled more balls on good line and length and more deliveries that would have hit the stumps. They’ve drawn more false shots, and taken more wickets at a better average.

■ India found 19% edges or misses, compared to the hosts’ 16%.

■ India knew keeping Usman Khawaja quiet would be tough but they banked on their ability to maintain pressure. 61% of balls he faced were in the channel outside off-stump, more than any other Australian batsman. He’s responded by averaging 27.83 and scoring at

1.96rpo, the slowest for any series where he’s played more than once.

■ India have looked after the ball better than Australia. Tim Paine’s men have only been able to find 0.44° of swing in overs 41-80, while India have found 0.6°. That is a big difference, and on flat pitches like the one in Melbourne, it was a decisive one.

■ 2018 has been the finest year for fast bowling that Indian Test cricket has ever seen. They end 2018 with 179 wickets, the most in a calendar year. They also end with a bowling average of 23.70. Only three times in their history have they averaged less, and in those years they took 43, 9, and 7 wickets.