Centuries are the order of the day in any format of the game. The valiant effort displayed by the batsman might sometimes end on the losing side but will surely augur well for the individual. It is also advised to a batsman to convert the century start into a significant big score and forever etch his name in the hearts of cricket lovers. As far as Indian cricket is concerned, we had numerous batsmen making their mark at the international stage, piling on plenty of runs in the team’s cause. Being a cricket crazy nation, these players have earned a special place in the hearts of countrymen and it looks unlikely that it may ever be displaced. Owing to their unbelievable display at the international stage, they too made their way into record books of cricket. We shall be talking about one such stat in the present article. In the below piece, we look at 4 Indian batsmen to score the most 150+ scores in the first 60 Test innings:
1. Virender Sehwag – 6
The Nawab of Najafgarh proudly attains the top spot in this list, having crossed the 150 mark six times in his first 60 Test innings. Given his style of play where he fancied going against the bowlers early on and garnering as many runs as he could in the morning session, him topping the list shouldn’t be a surprise.
With so much emphasis given to being technically sound at the Test arena, Sehwag’s cricketing career has come out in stark contrast to the said wisdom where the batsman, inspite of not moving his feet much, has endured tremendous success in the most difficult red-ball format.
His attacking instincts and positive intent acted as a perfect cover to the rare flaw which more often than not got the better of the opposition. Indeed it is rightly said that there can be only one Sehwag and no other batsman in the world can single-handedly demolish oppositions as he did during his illustrious career.
The flamboyant opener had smashed 8586 runs from 104 Tests at an average of 49.34 and a strike rate of 82.23 with 23 centuries to his name.
2. Rohit Sharma – 4
A white-ball specialist and current vice-captain of India’s limited-overs side, Sharma crossed the 150 mark four times in his first 60 Test innings. Unlike the white-ball formats, success came late for Sharma at the Test arena where he had to miss out owing to lack of credibility and temperament.
He started his Test career as a middle-order batsman, enjoying great success in the debut series against the Windies in 2013. Since then, Sharma has been in and out of the side, waiting patiently for recurrent opportunities.
The moment finally came when regular openers then, Vijay, Rahul and Dhawan all failing to live up to the expectations and paving way for Rohit as the preferred opener. The move has worked beautifully for India as the Mumbai batsman along with Agarwal previously and Gill now has formed a potent opening pair capable of shattering the best of bowling attacks.
Sharma has so far, hammered 2475 runs from 36 Tests at an average of 45.83 and strike rate of 58.74 with 7 centuries against his name.
3. Cheteshwar Pujara – 4
In the era dominated by attacking batsmen, Pujara comes across as a refreshing prospect, who trusts his defence and loves to do the hard grind for procuring success in the multi-day format. The Indian no.3 too has crossed the 150 mark four times in his first 60 Test innings.
Be it the home or overseas conditions, Pujara has a set pattern to his batsmanship, who can bat all day long and wait for the bowlers to tire and bowl loose deliveries. It is at this moment where he pounces on the bowlers and bats them out of the contest.
His approach has certainly caused a lot of headaches to opposition bowlers, who pray for his wicket early on in the innings. Once set, Pujara is difficult to stop, who uses his feet against the spinners to whip them through the on-side and transfers his weight on the back-foot against the pacers.
The Saurashtra superstar has struck 6227 runs from 83 Tests at an average of 47.17 and strike rate of 45.01 with 18 centuries to his name.
4. Gautam Gambhir – 4
A classical opening batsman from Delhi, Gambhir also has crossed the 150 mark 4 times in his first 60 Test innings. The man formed a lethal opening pair with Sehwag across all the three formats and accumulated plenty of runs at the top of the order.
Inspite of being naturally aggressive, Gambhir like his predecessors was more than happy to take a backseat and play second fiddle to overly flamboyant Sehwag. This rich blend of belligerence and nonchalance was the premier reason for their success and continuation for so long.
For a batsman, who can bat in both gears, it wasn’t so difficult for Gambhir to build his innings after the dismissal of Sehwag. Putting away the bad deliveries and respecting the good ones is the wisdom that he followed, which indeed paid him rich dividends.
It is not at all an exaggeration when we say that we won’t find a selfless, focused and committed cricketer like Gambhir, who has contributed immensely to the growth and development of Indian cricket. The southpaw had mustered 4154 runs from 58 Tests at an average of 41.95 and strike rate of 51.49 with 9 centuries to his name.
