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Ajinkya Rahane and others who scored century in maiden Test innings at Lord’s

Nine batsmen from India before Rahane scored 50 runs or more in their maiden Test innings.

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Ajinkya Rahane © Getty Images
Ajinkya Rahane © Getty Images

 

Ajinkya Rahane became only the second Indian player to score a century in his maiden Test innings at Lord’s, during the second Test between India and England. Bharath Seervi lists all batsmen from visiting countries to who scored a century in their maiden Test innings at the Lord’s.

 

Ajinkya Rahane scored a fine century to take India out of troubles in the first innings of the second Test of the series at Lord’s against England. He scored 103 batting at No 5 when at one point India was seven down for 145. This is Rahane’s first match at Lord’s and he got his century in his very first innings at this venue.

 

Rahane became only the second Indian batsman to score a century in his maiden Test innings at Lord’s. He emulated Sourav Ganguly, who had scored 131 runs in his debut Test innings at Lord’s. Overall, he is the 34th batsman from the visiting teams to achieve the feat. The first batsman to reach this feat was Henry Graham in 1893 when he scored 107 runs at no. 7. Angelo Mathews was the last one to have achieved this feat before Rahane.

 

Below is the table listing all the visiting batsmen who scored a century in their maiden Test innings at Lord’s:

 

Batsman Runs Bat Position Year Result
H Graham (Aus) 107 7 1893 Drawn
VT Trumper (Aus) 135* 6 1899 Won
VS Ransford (Aus) 143* 5 1909 Won
C Kelleway (Aus) 102 2 1912 Won
RH Cotterall (SA) 120 5 1924 Lost
DG Bradman (Aus) 254 3 1930 Won
WA Brown (Aus) 105 2 1934 Lost
A Melville (SA) 117 2 1947 Lost
AR Morris (Aus) 105 2 1948 Won
AF Rae (WI) 106 1 1950 Won
RA McLean (SA) 142 5 1955 Lost
WM Lawry (Aus) 130 1 1961 Won
CA Davis (WI) 103 3 1969 Drawn
GS Chappell (Aus) 131 4 1972 Won
BD Julien (WI) 121 8 1973 Won
GP Howarth (NZ) 123 3 1978 Lost
KJ Hughes (Aus) 117 4 1980 Drawn
GM Wood (Aus) 112 1 1980 Drawn
DL Haynes (WI) 184 2 1980 Drawn
IVA Richards (WI) 145 3 1980 Drawn
S Wettimuny (SL) 190 1 1984 Drawn
LRD Mendis (SL) 111 6 1984 Drawn
SR Waugh (Aus) 152* 6 1989 Won
TJ Franklin (NZ) 101 1 1990 Drawn
MJ Slater (Aus) 152 2 1993 Won
SC Ganguly (Ind) 131 3 1996 Drawn
MTG Elliott (Aus) 112 2 1997 Drawn
MJ Horne (NZ) 100 1 1999 Won
MS Atapattu (SL) 185 1 2002 Drawn
DPMD Jayawardene (SL) 107 4 2002 Drawn
GC Smith (SA) 259 1 2003 Won
AG Prince (SA) 101 5 2008 Drawn
AD Mathews (SL) 102 6 2014 Drawn
AM Rahane (Ind) 103 5 2014

 

–          Among the 34 players above, 14 are from Australia, five each from Sri Lanka, South Africa and West Indies, three from New Zealand and two from India.

 

–          Graham (1893) and Ganguly (1996) were making their Test debut.

 

–          Don Bradman (254 in 1930) and Graeme Smith (259 in 2003) are the only players to score double centuries in their maiden Test innings at Lord’s. Incidentally, these are the top two individual scores by visiting batsmen at Lord’s.

 

–          The pairs of Kim Hughes and Graeme Wood (1980), Desmond Haynes and Viv Richards (1980), Sidath Wettimuny and Duleep Mendis (1984), and Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene (2002) achieved the feat in the same innings.

 

Indians scoring 50+ in their maiden Test innings at Lord’s: Nine batsmen from India before Rahane scored 50 runs or more in their maiden Test innings at Lord’s. The first to achieve this was Rusi Modi in 1946 tour when he scored 57 not out batting at no. 5 in the first inning.

 

Below is the table listing the Indian batsmen who scored 50+ in their maiden Test innings at Lord’s:

 

Batsman Runs Bat Position Year Result
RS Modi 57* 5 1946 Lost
NJ Contractor 81 2 1959 Lost
AL Wadekar 57 3 1967 Lost
ED Solkar 67 7 1971 Drawn
GR Viswanath 68 5 1971 Drawn
M Amarnath 69 3 1986 Won
R Dravid 95 7 1996 Drawn
SC Ganguly 131 3 1996 Drawn
V Sehwag 84 2 2002 Lost
AM Rahane 103 5 2014

 

Footnotes:

 

–          If Rahane can manage a half century in the second innings of this Test he would become only the second Indian player after VinooMankad (72 & 184 in 1952) to score a century and a half century in same Test at Lord’s.

 

–          If Rahane can manage another century in the second innings of this Test he would become only the fourth player in the history to score centuries in both innings of a Test at Lord’s emulating George Headley ( 106 and 107 in 1939), Gooch (333 and 123 in 1990) and Michael Vaughan (103 and 101 not out in 2004).

 

(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs atwww.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter atwww.twitter.com/SeerviBharath and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SeerviCricket)

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