Home Statsman Of captains and double hundreds Mohandas Menon 06 December, 2017 16:53 IST Virat Kohli... the Indian skipper now has six double hundreds, the most by any Test captain. - PTI Mohandas Menon 06 December, 2017 16:53 IST 6The maximum scores of 200+ by Test captains. Virat Kohli (243) in New Delhi became the first captain in Test history to make this many 200+ scores. He surpassed the tally of Brian Lara (West Indies), whose five 200+ scores include his 400 against England at St. John’s in April 2004.For the record, Kohli reached the mark in just 50 innings. Lara took 83 innings to register his fifth score of 200+ as captain. While it took Lara nearly seven and a half years to reach this landmark, it took Kohli less than 17 months to better it.The table below provides the details of captains with four or more 200+ scores in Test cricket.Most scores of 200+ as Test captain200sinnsCaptainForFirst 200Final 200Scores of 200+ as Test captain650V. KohliInd22 Jul 20162 Dec 2017200211235204213 243585B. LaraWI14 Mar 199922 Nov 2006213209202400*216 438D. BradmanAus5 Jan 193723 Jan 1948270212234201 486Mi. ClarkeAus4 Jan 201222 Nov 2012329*210259*230 4193G. SmithSA26 Jul 200324 Oct 2013277259232234 +current player3The number of times Indian batsmen managed to register four 100+ scores in the same innings of a Test. The Nagpur Test was the latest. For the record, since June 1938, there have been 22 instances of teams registering four or more centuries in the same innings of a Test. Of these, on two occasions there have been five centuries in the same innings.The table below has the details of the three instances when Indian batsmen posted four 100+ scores in the same innings of a Test.Four individual centuries in same Test innings for IndiaBatsmen and scoresAgainstVenueMonth, YearResult (won by)Dinesh Karthik 129, Wasim Jaffer 138, Rahul Dravid 129, Sachin Tendulkar 122*BangladeshMirpurMay 2007inns & 239 runsVirender Sehwag 165, Sachin Tendulkar 106, VVS Laxman 143*, MS Dhoni 132*South AfricaKolkataFeb 2010inns & 57 runsM Vijay 128, Cheteshwar Pujara 143, Virat Kohli 213, Rohit Sharma 102*Sri LankaNagpurNov 2017inns & 239 runsNotes:*The victories by inns & 239 runs at Mirpur and Nagpur are India’s biggest in Test cricket.*The Mirpur Test provided the only instance in Test cricket, when batsmen in batting positions 1, 2, 3 & 4 made 100+ scores in same Test innings.54The number of Test matches taken by India’s Ravichandran Ashwin to claim his 300th wicket, during the Nagpur Test against Sri Lanka. This is now the quickest by any bowler in terms of Tests in cricket history! Ashwin broke the previous record held by Australia’s Dennis Lillee, who, by a strange coincidence, achieved the landmark exactly on the same day as Ashwin did, but 36 years ago, on November 27, 1981.The details are given below:Fewest Tests taken to reach 300 wicketsTestsInnsS/RBowlerForAchieved onYears takenAge5410152.12R. AshwinIndia27 Nov 20176y-22d31y-71d5610749.64D. LilleeAustralia27 Nov 198110y-9m-30d32y-132d589161.66M. MuralitharanSri Lanka30 Dec 20008y-4m-3d28y-257d6111051.43R. HadleeNew Zealand21 Feb 198613y-20d34y-233d6111445.85M. MarshallWest Indies29 Dec 198810y-15d30y-255d6111341.93D. SteynSouth Africa2 Jan 20138y-17d29y-189dS/R is the number of balls taken to claim each wicket.To claim 300 Test wicket….In fewest Tests:54R. Ashwin (Ind)In fewest innings:91M. Muralitharan (SL)In fewest balls:12564Waqar Younis (Pak)Best bowling average:20.66Shaun Pollock (SAf)Best bowling economy (r/o):1.98L. Gibbs (WI)Shortest time taken:2196 days (6y-4d)S. Warne (Aus)Youngest:28y-1dby Kapil Dev (Ind) 100The number of Test matches lost by Sri Lanka. In Nagpur, they became the eighth Test team to reach this dubious landmark.Team records after their 100 Test lossTeamTest debut 100th defeat AgainstVenueTestsWonLostDraw/Tie%lossEngland15 Mar 187710 Dec 1958AustraliaBrisbane34713910010828.82Australia15 Mar 187712 Jan 1978IndiaSydney374170100103/126.74South Africa12 Mar 18898 Sep 2003EnglandThe Oval279901008935.84West Indies23 Jun 192829 Dec 2000AustraliaMelbourne368138100129/127.17New Zealand10 Jan 193012 Dec 1995PakistanChristchurch2413310010841.49India25 Jun 193228 Dec 1996South AfricaDurban30357100145/133.00Pakistan16 Oct 195215 May 2011West IndiesProvidence35710710015028.97Sri Lanka17 Feb 198228 Nov 2017IndiaNagpur266841008237.59 THIS WEEK IN 190314 DecemberEngland’s Reg ‘Tip’ Foster scores 287 against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground. It still remains the highest score by a debutant in Test cricket history!Foster went on to play in seven more Tests but could manage just one score of 50-plus — a 51 in the final match and penultimate innings of his Test career, at The Oval, against South Africa in August 1907. QUERIES CORNERIs this the first time that Kerala has reached the knock-out stage of the Ranji Trophy?— P. Sunil, KottayamThis, in fact, is the second occasion that Kerala have managed to reach the knock-out stage of the Ranji Trophy. Earlier, in the 1994-95 season, Kerala made it to the knock-out stage when they finished second in the South Zone League. They, however, lost to Uttar Pradesh in the pre-quarterfinals on first innings lead.It is also worth mentioning here that a couple of seasons later, in 1996-97, Kerala topped the South Zone League to reach the Super League stage, but failed to make it to the knock-outs from there. Therefore, this is the second time that Kerala are in the knock-outs, but their first in the quarterfinal stage of the Ranji Trophy.Recently Virat Kohli made six double centuries in Tests. Who are the other Indian captains to score double centuries?— Ajay Kumar, MumbaiInterestingly, from July 22, 2016, Virat Kohli has scored six 200-plus scores as India captain in under 17 months. Before that, since 1932 (in 84 years), only four Indian captains have posted 200+ scores: Nawab of Pataudi Jr. 203* in 1964; Sunil Gavaskar 205 in 1978; Sachin Tendulkar 217 in 1999; and M. S. Dhoni 224 in 2013.Could you please provide the number of centuries scored in this year’s Ranji Trophy? And also the number of triple centuries and double centuries.— Srihari Rao, VisakhapatnamWhen you say this year, I presume you mean this season. So far this season, after Round 7 and before the start of the knock-out stage, in the 82 Ranji Trophy matches played (excluding the two washed-out games), we have seen 164 centuries. The summary of all the 100+ scores is given below:300+ scores: 3200s (200 to 299): 9100s (100 to 199): 152 (includes 26 scores between 150 to 199).Mayank Agarwal became the first batsman from Karnataka to score four centuries in successive Ranji Trophy matches when he made a hundred against Railways. How many other players have achieved this feat in the Ranji Trophy?— G. Harish, BengaluruFour in four has been achieved by several others. However, Agarwal is still way behind Rusi Modi’s record of seven centuries in successive Ranji Trophy matches, from December 1943 to March 1945. Modi, in fact, scored his seven centuries in a span of nine innings!Note: All figures above are updated as on December 3, 2017.Readers may send in their queries to sportstar@thehindu.co.in Read more stories on Statsman. 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Muttiah Muralitharan Ravichandran Ashwin Don Bradman Michael Clarke Graeme Smith Brian Lara Virat Kohli India vs Sri Lanka