India's Exclusive 100 Tests Club

Virat Kohli is all set to become the 12th Indian man to play 100 Tests, notes Rajneesh Gupta.

Virat Kohli will join the elite company of eleven other Indians and a total of 70 other players across the world to complete the landmark of 100 Test matches, in the first Test against Sri Lanka, starting in Mohali on Friday.

Apart from 11 Indians, the club of cricketers with 100 or more Test appearances includes 15 Englishmen, 13 Australians, nine West Indians, eight South Africans, five Pakistanis, five Sri Lankans and four New Zealanders.

Test cricket was more than 91 years old when Colin Cowdrey became the first player to appear in 100 Tests.

In the next less than 54 years, 69 have joined him -- an indication of increase in number of Test matches since the 1970s.

The following table lists all Indian players with 100 or more Test appearances in chronological order:

 Some interesting observations:

• Dilip Vengsarkar, Kapil Dev, Rahul Dravid and Harbhajan Singh all played their first as well as 100th Test against the same opponent.
• Dravid took the shortest time to complete his 100 Tests -- 9 years and 272 days. At the other end of the scale, Kumble took the longest time to do so -- 15 years and 132 days.

 100-Test Club members (Indians)

Note: Mohammad Azharuddin ended his career with 99 Tests.

Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for most Test matches by any Indian with a world record 200 Tests to his name.

A look at the country wise break-up of 100 Tests by the Indians:

Note: Sehwag and Dravid's tally includes one Test played for ICC World XI vs Australia in 2005.

The following table furnishes the batting and fielding performances of 100 Test men from which we glance the following facts:

• Tendulkar has appeared in most Tests, scored most runs and made most centuries and fifties.
• Sehwag has played the highest individual innings.
• Tendulkar has the highest batting average.
• Dravid has taken most catches.
• Ishant has remained unbeaten on most occasions. He has also made most ducks.

100 TEST MEMBERS: BATTING & FIELDING PERFORMANCES(in descending order of runs)

 The following tables furnishes the bowling performances of 100 Test men from which we glance the following facts:

• Kumble has bowled most balls, most maidens, conceded most runs and has taken most wickets. He also has the most instances of 5 wickets in an innings as also the most 10-wicket match hauls. He also has the best innings analysis.
• Kapil has the best average, just marginally ahead of Kumble.
• Ishant has the best strike-rate.

 100 TEST MEMBERS: BOWLING PERFORMANCES (in descending order of wickets)

The table below lists 11 Indian players alphabetically and shows their progressive quantum of runs in each segment of 25 Tests.

It will be observed that Gavaskar scored the most runs in each of the first three segments, but Dravid simply raced away from the rest in the last segment, while also ending as the highest run-scorer after exactly 100 Tests.

PROGRESSIVE RUNS SCORED IN EACH 25 TEST SEGMENT:

HIGHEST RUN-AGGREGATES AFTER EACH 25 TEST SEGMENT

• Gavaskar 2,256 runs in 25 Tests
• Gavaskar 4,947 runs in 50 Tests
• Gavaskar 6,718 runs in 75 Tests
• Dravid 8,553 runs in 100 Tests

The following table shows the number of runs added in each 25 Test segment.

Gavaskar scored more runs in the first as well as second segment of 25 Tests. Tendulkar then took the lead in the third and fourth segments.

RUNS ADDED IN EACH 25 TEST SEGMENT

 MOST RUNS ADDED IN EACH 25 TEST SEGMENT

• From 1st to 25th Test 2,256 runs by Gavaskar
• From 26th to 50th Test 2,691 runs by Gavaskar
• From 51st to 75th Test 2,557 runs by Tendulkar
• From 76th to 100th Test 2,410 runs by Tendulkar

The following table shows the comparative bowling figures of the leading wicket-takers by Indians, who have 100 Tests or more.

It will be observed that Kumble had a tally of more wickets than anyone else in each segment (though Harbhajan came very close after the first 50 Tests).

Kumble remains the only Indian bowler to take 100 wickets in all the four segments. While all other bowlers slowed down after 75 Tests, Kumble and Ishant accelerated in the fourth segment.

PROGRESSIVE WICKETS AFTER EACH 25 TEST SEGMENT:

HIGHEST WICKET-AGGREGATES AFTER EACH 25 TEST SEGMENT

• Kumble 113 wickets in 25 Tests
• Kumble 220 wickets in 50 Tests
• Kumble 346 wickets in 75 Tests
• Kumble 485 wickets in 100 Tests

WICKETS TAKEN IN EACH 25 TEST SEGMENT

MOST WICKETS ADDED IN EACH 25 TEST SEGMENT

• From 1st to 25th Test: 113 wickets by Kumble
• From 26th to 50th Test: 112 wickets by Harbhajan
• From 51st to 75th Test: 126 wickets by Kumble
• From 76th to 100th Test: 139 wickets by Kumble

The table below shows the performance of players with bat, ball and in the field in their 100th Tests. It will be observed that

• No Indian batter has scored a century in his 100th Test.
• Laxman's 64 is the highest individual score by an Indian in his 100th Test.
• Vengsarkar suffered the ignominy of recording a 'duck' in his 100th Test.
• Kumble is the only Indian player to take a five-for in his 100th Test.
• Gavaskar held the catches in his 100th Test.
• Kumble, Laxman, Harbhajan and Ishant ended on the winning side, whereas Vengsarkar, Dravid, Ganguly and Sehwag had to suffer the ignominy of ending on the losing side.

PERFORMANCE IN THE 100th TEST