South Africa capped K Rabada for this game. He became the 320th cricketer to represent South Africa in tests. He also became the 18th South African cricketer to make his test debut against India.

There were five South African cricketers in the playing eleven who were making their first appearance in tests against India – DL Elgar, S van Zyl, SP Harmer, K Rabada and DJ Vilas. The total number of South African cricketers who have played against India numbers to 58

VR Aaron and UT Yadav are the two Indian cricketers in the playing eleven who were making their first appearance in tests against South Africa. The total number of Indian cricketers who have played against South Africa numbers to 62.

For this test and also for the series – both the teams had new captains and also wicket keepers – For India V Kohli and WP Saha are the new captain and wicket keepers against South Africa and for South Africa – HM Amla and DJ Vilas were the new captain and wicket keeper against India

V Kohli became the seventh Indian captain to lead India against South Africa, while HM Amla would became the fifth South African captain to lead South Africa against India. Thus both the teams will be playing under new captains.

DJ Vilas donned the gloves in this test for South Africa to become the fourth South African wicket keeper to keep wickets against India. Others are DJ Richardson, MV Boucher and TL Tsolekele.

WP Saha donned the gloves in this series for India to become the sixth Indian wicket keeper to keep wickets against South Africa. Others are – KS More, NR Mongia, D Dasgupta and KD Karthik

S Dhawan scored a duck in this game to provide the 54th occasion of an Indian batsman scoring a duck against South Africa. It also provides the seventh occasion of an Indian opening batsman scoring a duck against South Africa.

S Dhawan scored a duck in this game to provide the 21st occasion of an Indian batsman scoring a duck against South Africa at home. It also provides the second occasion of an Indian opening batsman scoring a duck against South Africa at home. VVS Laxman’s duck at Mumbai in Feb 2000 provides the first occasion.

V Kohli scored one run in this game to provide the 30^th occasion of an Indian captain scoring one in a test innings. It also provides the third such occasion against South Africa in a test innings. The other two occasions – M Azharuddin at Johannesburg in Nov 92 and R Dravid at Johannesburg in Dec 2006. Thus V Kohli became the first Indian captain to be dismissed for one against South Africa at home.

S Dhawan, WP Saha and VR Aaron scored ducks in India’s first innings to provide the 54^th, 55^th and 56^th occasion of Indian batsmen scoring a duck against South Africa

WP Saha scored a duck in this game to provide the fourth occasion of an Indian wicket keeper batsman scoring a duck against South Africa. The following table lists all the four occasions.

No	Player	Runs	BF	Inns	Opposition	Ground	Start Date
1	KS More	0	6	2	v South Africa	Cape Town	02 Jan 1993
2	NR Mongia	0	1	1	v South Africa	Mumbai	24 Feb 2000
3	MS Dhoni	0	3	2	v South Africa	Cape Town	02 Jan 2011
4	WP Saha	0	1	1	v South Africa	Mohali	05 Nov 2015

WP Saha collected the first ball duck in this game to provide the 13th occasion of an Indian batsman dismissed for a first ball duck against South Africa.

WP Saha collected the first ball duck in this game to provide the second occasion of an Indian wicket keeper batsman dismissed for a first ball duck against South Africa at home. NR Mongia had collected the first ball duck at Mumbai in Feb 2000

No	Player	Runs	BF	Inns	Opposition	Ground	Start Date
1	NR Mongia	0	1	1	v South Africa	Mumbai	24 Feb 2000
2	WP Saha	0	1	1	v South Africa	Mohali	05 Nov 2015

S Dhawan, WP Saha and VR Aaron scored ducks in India’s first innings to provide the seventh occasion of three or more Indian batsmen scoring a ducks in an innings against South Africa

S Dhawan scored a duck in this test to provide the third duck of his test career of 16 tests and 27 innings. The other two occasions were – against New Zealand at Auckland in Feb 2014 and against Australia at Melbourne in Dec 2014. This he collected his first home duck in this test

WP Saha scored a duck in this test to provide his third duck of his test career of eight tests and 14 innings. The other two occasions were – against South Africa at Nagpur in Feb 2010 {his debut test innings} and against Australia at Sydney in Jan 2015.

VR Aaron scored a duck in this test to provide the first duck of his test career of eight tests and 13 innings.

WP Saha scored a duck in this test to provide the 71^st occasion of an Indian wicket keeper batsman scoring a duck in a test innings. It also provides the 33^rd occasion of an Indian wicket keeper scoring a duck in a test innings at home and the second such occasion in a test at Mohali. MS Dhoni was the other wicket keeper. He had scored a duck against England at Mohali in Dec 2008.

M Vijay scored 75 in this test to provide the 20^th occasion of an Indian opening batsman scoring a fifty against South Africa. It also provides his second fifty as an opening batsman against South Africa. Other occasion was – his 97 at Durban in Dec 2013.

M Vijay scored 75, while S Dhawan scored a duck in this test to provide the second occasion of Indian openers scoring a fifty and duck in an innings against South Africa. Both such occasions are listed below

No	No	Player	Runs	Inns	Opposition	Ground	Start Date
1	1	D Dasgupta	63	4	v South Africa	Port Elizabeth	16 Nov 2001
	2	SS Das	0	4	v South Africa	Port Elizabeth	16 Nov 2001
2	1	M Vijay	75	1	v South Africa	Mohali	05 Nov 2015
	2	S Dhawan	0	1	v South Africa	Mohali	05 Nov 2015

D Elgar returned with figures of 4 for 22 in this test to provide his best innings bowling effort. His previous best was 1 for 3 against Pakistan at Dubai (DSC) in Oct 2013.

South African innings was opened by two left handers in this game – D Elgar and S van Zyl – to provide the 24^th occasion of two left handers opening the innings for South Africa. It also provides the second such occasion for South Africa against India. The earlier such occasion was witnessed at Nagpur in Feb 2010, when GC Smith and AG Prince had opened the innings for South Africa.

F du Plessis scored a duck in this game to provide the 52nd occasion of a South African batsman scoring a duck against India. It also provides the eighth occasion of a South African batsman batting at number three scoring a duck against India.

F du Plessis scored a duck in this test to provide his second duck in test career of 23 tests and 34 innings. The other occasion of his scoring a duck in a test innings was against West Indies in the first innings of the test at Centurion in Feb 2014.