India: The Men in Blue are in the first position of the World Test Championship points table. In the current cycle of 2023 to 2025, India is yet to lose a series in the red ball format. Now India will resume its international duties against Bangladesh in a two-match series of the red ball form of the game. That series will be played in Chennai and Kanpur from 19th September 2024.
Before that series starts, let us all know the three batsmen from the Men in Blue side who have scored a century in both innings of a Test match –
.1. Virat Kohli: 115 Runs And 145 Runs Against Australia In 2014 –
The former Indian skipper of all formats had achieved this feat when India toured the Aussie nation in 2014. India lost that Test series under the leadership of MS Dhoni. But Virat Kohli played amazingly well in the Adelaide Test match. Kohli was the stand-in skipper of the Men in Blue in that match because Mahi Bhai was injured.
The King had led his team from the front in this match and smashed centuries in both the innings. King Kohli scored 115 in the 1st innings of that red ball match and continued from where he left. He piled up another ton in the second innings. VK scored 145 runs in the 2nd innings while chasing a score of 364 runs. But Virat’s valiant efforts were unsuccessful as India lost that Test match.
2. Ajinkya Rahane – 127 runs and 100* Runs Against South Africa in 2015
Ajinkya Rahane was the captain when India won the Test series in Australia when they toured Down Under in 2020. Under Kohli’s captaincy, India was bundled out for just 36 runs in their second innings of the first red ball match. But Rahane inspired the young Indian side to script history by winning the matches at Melbourne Cricket Ground and The Gabba in Brisbane. Jinx was also the vice-skipper of India’s red ball format once upon a time.
Despite being a wonderful batter of the Test format, Rahane hasn’t found a place in the Test side as of now. He scored twin tons against South Africa in 2015 at the national capital city of Delhi. Ajinkya had scored 127 runs in the 1st innings and an unbeaten 100 runs in the second innings. He also became the only player to achieve this feat against South Africa. India won that match by a mammoth margin of 337 runs.
3. Rohit Sharma – 176 runs and 127 Runs against South Africa in 2019
The current skipper of the red ball and One Day International format, Rohit Sharma has been a dangerous batter in all three formats of the game. HITMAN has been the best opener in world cricket right now. The Test match in 2019 against South Africa was held at Vishkapatanam, and that was the first instance where Sharma Ji opened the innings in the longer version of the game.
It was Mahendra Singh Dhoni who allowed Rohit Sharma to open the innings in the One Day International format and T20 International games. Since then his career has been changed in the white ball format. Seeing that huge success, the team management decided to do the same in the red ball format and that has worked for Team India till now.
HITMAN had smashed two centuries in a single Test innings against The Proteas of that 2019 series, which India won. Rohit scored 176 runs in the 1st innings of that red ball game and also smashed another wonderful century in the second innings. Rohit piled up 127 runs to give India a magnificent victory of 203 runs.
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