×

Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and others scoring century on their Captaincy Debut in Test cricket

Virat Kohli became the fourth Indian to score a century on captaincy debut.

Related articles

Steven Smith (above) scored a century on captaincy debut, leading his team to victory © Getty Images
Steven Smith (above) scored a century on captaincy debut, leading his team to victory © Getty Images

Virat Kohli and Steve Smith both captained their respective sides for the first time in Tests and both hit a century in their maiden innings as Test captain. Bharath Seervi highlights the achievements of Kohli and Smith and lists the other players who did similar in the past and other numbers related to highs and lows in captaincy debut and last test as captain.

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy of 2014-15 has seen two players being given the captaincy of their national test side for the first time — Virat Kohli for India in the first test at Adelaide as MS Dhoni missed the test, and Steve Smith for Australia in the second test at Brisbane with Michael Clarke ruled out. Both men as made the best out of it with their bat.

Kohli scored 115 runs in India’s first innings in Adelaide Test — his maiden Test innings as Indian captain — and became only the fourth Indian to score a century on captaincy debut. He followed it with 141 runs in the fourth innings to become only the second player to score twin tons on captaincy debut. In the next test, Smith replaced Clarke as the captain and emulated Kohli in the first innings. Smith scored 133 runs in his maiden Test innings as captain to become the ninth Aussie to do so.

Century on captaincy debut for India

Batsman Runs Against Venue Date
Vijay Hazare 164* England Kotla November 2, 1951
Sunil Gavaskar 116, 35* New Zealand Eden Park January 24, 1976
Dilip Vengsarkar 10, 102 West Indies Kotla November 25, 1987
Virat Kohli 115, 141 Australia Adelaide Oval December 9, 2014

 

The Indians doing it before Kohli were Vijay Hazare (164 not out), Sunil Gavaskar (116) and Dilip Vengsarkar (102). Vengsarkar did in the second innings of the Test while the others achieved in the first inning.

Century on captaincy debut for Australia

Batsman Runs Against Venue Date
Billy Murdoch 0, 153* England The Oval September 6, 1880
Harry Trott 0, 143 England Lord’s June 22, 1896
Monty Noble 133, 22 England SCG December 11, 1903
Clem Hill 191 South Africa SCG December 9, 1910
Warwick Armstrong 12, 158 England SCG December 17, 1920
Lindsay Hassett 112 South Africa Wanderers December 24, 1949
Greg Chappell 123, 109* West Indies The Gabba November 28, 1975
Graham Yallop 7, 102 England The Gabba December 1, 1978
Steve Smith 133, 28 India The Gabba December 17, 2014

 

Smith was the ninth to do so for Australia and first since Graham Yallop in 1978. Billy Murdoch was the first to do so in 1880. The last three occasions have all occurred at Brisbane (Greg Chappell, Graham Yallop and Steve Smith).

Centuries in first two innings as a captain

Batsman Inning Runs Against Venue Date
Vijay Hazare 1 164* England Kotla November 2, 1951
2 155 England Brabourne December 14, 1951
Greg Chappell 1 123 West Indies The Gabba November 28, 1975
2 109* West Indies The Gabba November 28, 1975
Virat Kohli 1 115 Australia Adelaide Oval December 9, 2014
2 141 Australia Adelaide Oval December 9, 2014

 

Kohli became the second captain after Greg Chappell to score centuries in both innings of the debut test as captain. He became the third to score two centuries in first two test innings as captain as Hazare did it in 1951.

On a side note, Hazare’s scores in the next four innings as captain after scoring 164 not out and 155 were six, two, zero, and zero.

Century on captaincy debut — for other teams

Let us see the similar feats achieved by captains of the other teams.

For Batsman Runs Against Venue Date
England (5) Archie McLaren 109, 50* Australia SCG December 13, 1897
Allan Lamb 119, 10 West Indies Kensington Oval April 5, 1990
Andrew Strauss 30, 128 Pakistan Lord’s July 13, 2006
Kevin Pietersen 100, 13 South Africa The Oval August 7, 2008
Alastair Cook 173, 39 Bangladesh Chittagong March 12, 2010
New Zealand (4) Geoff Rabone 107, 68 South Africa Kingsmead December 11, 1953
Graham Dowling 239, 5 India Christchurch February 22, 1968
Bevan Congdon 126, 61* West Indies Kensington Oval March 23, 1972
Jeff Crowe 120*, 16 Sri Lanka Colombo (CCC) April 16, 1987
South Africa (2) Herbie Taylor 109, 8 England Kingsmead December 13, 1913
Jackie McGlew 104*, 48 England Manchester July 7, 1955
West Indies (3) Jeff Stollmeyer 10, 104 Australia SCG January 25, 1952
Clive Lloyd 30, 163 India Chinnaswamy November 22, 1974
Shivnarine Chanderpaul 203* South Africa Bourda March 31, 2005
Zimbabwe (2) Dave Houghton 121, 41* India Harare October 18, 1992
Brendon Taylor 71, 105* Bangladesh Harare August 4, 2011

 

Kohli became the 28th and Smith the 29th to score hundreds on captaincy debut. They are also are the 20th and 21st batsmen respectively to score century debut test inning as captain.

It is to be noted that Alastair Cook scored a century in each of his first 5 tests as captain.

Highest score on debut by a captain for:

Bangladesh — Shakib Al Hasan (16, 96*) against West Indies at St George’s in 2009

Pakistan — Rameez Raza (78) against Sri Lanka at Peshawar in 1995

Sri Lanka — Somachandra de Silva (7, 52) against New Zealand at Christchurch in 1983

 

A duck and a century on captaincy debut:

0 and 143 — Harry Trott (Aus)

0 and 153* — Bill Murdoch (Aus)

 

Two half-centuries on captaincy debut:

Batsman Runs Team Against Venue Date
Jackie Grant 53*, 71* West Indies Australia Adelaide Oval December 12, 1930
Frank Worrell 65, 65 West Indies Australia The Gabba December 9, 1960
Kepler Wessels 59, 74 South Africa West Indies Bourda April 18, 1992
Ross Taylor 76, 76 New Zealand Zimbabwe Bulawayo November 1, 2011

 

Frank Worrell, after scoring 65 in each innings of his debut test as captain, scored a pair in his next test as captain.

Scores in 90s on captaincy debut:

Batsman Runs Team Against Venue Date
Ridley Jacobs 91* West Indies Bangladesh Dhaka December 4, 2002
Tony Greig 96, 41 England Australia Lord’s July 31, 1975
Shakib Al Hasan 16, 96* Bangladesh West Indies St George’s July 17, 2009

 

200 or more aggregate runs on captaincy debut:

256 — Virat Kohli (115 and 141)

244 — Graham Dowling (239 and 5)

232 — Greg Chappell (123 and 109*)

212 — Alastair Cook (173 and 39)

203 — ShivnarineChanderpaul (203*)

After dealing with the high scores on captaincy debut, let us move to ducks on captaincy debut.

Duck in debut innings as captain

Batsman Runs Against Venue Date
Ivo Bligh 0, 3 Australia MCG December 30, 1882
Arthur Shrewsbury 0, 26* Australia Adelaide Oval December 12, 1884
Plum Warner 0, 8 Australia SCG December 11, 1903
Stanley Jackson 0, 82* Australia Trent Bridge May 29, 1905
Johnny Douglas 0, 32 Australia SCG December 15, 1911
Tom Lowry 0, 40 England Christchurch January 10, 1930
Buster Nupen 0, 1 England Wanderers December 24, 1930
Alan Melville 0 England Wanderers December 24, 1938
Harry Cave 0, 21 Pakistan Karachi October 13, 1955
Fazal Mahmood 0 West Indies Karachi February 20, 1959
Bobby Simpson 0, 55* South Africa MCG January 1, 1964
Intikhab Alam 0, 47 New Zealand Karachi October 24, 1969
Tony Lewis 0, 70* India Kotla December 20, 1972
Alvin Kallicharran 0, 22 Australia Bourda March 31, 1978
Chris Cowdrey 0, 5 West Indies Headingley July 21, 1988
Desmond Haynes 0, 45 England Queen’s Park Oval March 23, 1990
Hansie Cronje 0, 3 Australia Adelaide Oval June 28, 1994
Mark Taylor 0, 0 Pakistan Karachi September 28, 1994
Rashid Latif 0, 0 South Africa Port Elizabeth March 6, 1998
Habibul Bashar 0, 0 Zimbabwe Harare February 19, 2004
Darren Sammy 0 Sri Lanka Galle November 15, 2010

 

Pairs on captaincy debut: Mark Taylor, Rashid Latif and Habibul Bashar

Duck on captaincy debut (Excluding first innings ducks of the table above):

Batsman Runs Against Venue Date
Percy McDonnell 14, 0 England SCG January 28, 1887
Tip Foster 8, 0 South Africa Lord’s June 1, 1907
Frank Mitchell 11, 0 Australia Old Trafford May 27, 1912
Curly Page 22, 0 South Africa Christchurch February 27, 1932
Don Bradman 38, 0 England The Gabba December 4, 1936
Tiger Pataudi 48, 0 West Indies Kensington Oval March 23, 1962
Duleep Mendis 16, 0 Pakistan Faisalabad March 14, 1982
David Gower 29, 0 Pakistan Lord’s August 12, 1982
Alec Stewart 74, 0 India Chepauk February 11, 1993
Sachin Tendulkar 10, 0 Australia Kotla October 10, 1996
Saeed Anwar 8, 0 New Zealand Lahore November 21, 1996
Steve Waugh 14, 0 West Indies Queen’s Park Oval March 5, 1999
Stuart Carlisle 14, 0 Bangladesh Chittagong November 15, 2001
Tatenda Taibu 40, 0 Sri Lanka Harare March 6, 2004
Younis Khan 31, 0 West Indies Kensington Oval May 26, 2005
Virender Sehwag 20, 0 Sri Lanka Motera December 18, 2005
Daren Ganga 5, 0 England Old Trafford June 7, 2007

 

The centuries and ducks on captaincy debut have been listed. What about similar feats in last test as captain?

Century in last test as captain

Batsman Runs Against Venue Date
Ian Chappell 192 England The Oval August 28, 1975
Marcus Trescothick 193, 5 Pakistan Multan November 12, 2005
Ramnaresh Sarwan 65, 128 Australia North Sound May 30, 2008
Kevin Pietersen 144 India Mohali December 19, 2008
Jacques Kallis 102 Australia Newlands March 19, 2009
Daniel Vettori 110, 1 Pakistan Wellington January 15, 2011
Kumar Sangakkara 2, 119 England Rose Bowl June 16, 2011
Ross Taylor 142, 74 Sri Lanka Premadasa November 25, 2012

 

Ramnaresh Sarwan, Kevin Pietersen (presumably), Daniel Vettori, Kumar Sangakkara and Ross Taylor have not retired from Test cricket.

Two half-centuries in last test as captain:

Batsman Runs Against Venue Date
George Giffen 57, 51 England MCG March 1, 1895
Mahela Jayawardene 72, 60 Australia SCG January 3, 2013

 

Score in 90s in last test as captain:

Batsman Runs Against Venue Date
Javed Miandad 92, 12 New Zealand Hamilton January 2, 1993

 

Duck in last test inning as captain

Batsman Runs Against Venue Date
Percy McDonnell 15, 0 England Old Trafford August 30, 1888
Louis Tancred 0, 0 England The Oval August 12, 1912
Don Bradman 0 England The Oval August 14, 1948
Harry Cave 0, 0 West Indies Dunedin February 3, 1956
Ian Botham 0, 0 Australia Lord’s July 2, 1981
Imran Khan 22, 0 Sri Lanka Faisalabad January 2, 1992
Rameez Raza 36, 0 Sri Lanka SSC April 26, 1997
Courtney Walsh 1, 0 Pakistan Karachi December 6, 1997
Sanath Jayasuriya 32, 0 South Africa Wanderers November 8, 2002

 

Pair in last test as captain: Louis Tancred, Harry Cave and Ian Botham

Duck in last test as captain (Excluding last innings ducks of the table above)

Batsman Runs Against Venue Date
Monkey Hornby 0, 20 Australia Manchester July 10, 1884
Tom Horan 0, 4 England Melbourne March 21, 1885
Plum Warner 0, 4 South Africa Cape Town March 30, 1906
Arthur Jones 0, 34 Australia Sydney February 21, 2008
Imtiaz Ahmed 0, 86 England Karachi February 2, 1962
Barry Sinclair 0, 8 India Dunedin February 15, 1968
Mike Brearley 0, 51 Australia The Oval August 27, 1981
Michael Atherton 0, 51 Australia Nottingham August 2, 2001
Stuart Carlisle 0, 37 India Delhi February 28, 2002
Waqar Younis 0, 9 South Africa Cape Town January 2, 2003
Tatenda Taibu 0, 1 India Harare September 20, 2005
Brian Lara 0, 49 Pakistan Karachi November 27, 2006
Stephen Fleming 0, 27 Sri Lanka Wellington December 15, 2006
Shoaib Malik 0, 11 India Delhi November 22, 2007
Michael Vaughan 0, 17 South Africa Birmingham July 30, 2008

 

Duck in only test as captain (First and Last)

Batsman Runs Against Venue Date
Alfred Richards 6, 0 England Newlands March 21, 18966
Warren Bardsley 0, 15 England Headingley July 10, 1906
Teddy Hoad 24, 0 England Kensington Oval January 11, 1930
Pankaj Roy 15, 0 England Lord’s June 18, 1959
Murray Chapple 15, 0 England Christchurch February 25, 1966
Mashrafe Mortaza 39, 0 West Indies Kingstown July 9, 2009

 

# Don Bradman, Harry Cave, Pelham Warner, Percy McDonnell, Tatenda Taibu and Stuart Carlisle have scored ducks in both their first and last Tests as captain.

# Cave is the only one to score a duck in his first and last Test innings as captain.

# Kevin Pietersen is the only player to score a century in his first and last test Tests as well as in his first and last Test innings (considering he does not lead again, that is).

# Mike Brearley captained most Tests without scoring a century. He captained in 31 tests and scored seven fifties with best of 81.

# Frank Worrell (10) and Ken Rutherford (8) scored more half-centuries than Mike Brearley without scoring a ton as captain.

# Ted Dexter captained in 30 tests scoring no duck. It remains a record.

# Graham Dowling scored 239 runs in his debut test innings as captain, but scored only one fifty in the next 37 innings he batted in his captaincy career.

(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 at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SeerviBharath and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SeerviCricket)

trending this week