16 Indian batters have scored a century on Test debut.
Many did not score a hundred again in their Test careers.
Rajneesh Gupta's fascinating facts on the members of the elite club of debutant centurions.
IMAGE: Shreyas Iyer became the 16th Indian to score a century on Test debut. Photograph: BCCI
| # | Player | Inns1 | Inns2 | Opponent | Venue | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lala Amarnath | 38 | 118 | England | Mumbai | 1933-34 |
| Did not score another hundred in 23 more Tests. | ||||||
| 2 | Deepak Shodhan | 110 | - | Pakistan | Kolkata | 1952-53 |
| Coming in at no 8 Deepak was last out for 110, taking India from 179/6 to 397. He scored 45 and 11 in his next Test against the West Indies, missed the next three Tests due to illness and scored a crucial 15* at number 10 in the fifth Test of the series. He was never picked to play for the country again! | ||||||
| 3 | A G Kripal Singh | 100* | - | New Zealand | Hyderabad | 1955-56 |
| Did not score another hundred in 13 more Tests. | ||||||
| 4 | Abbas Ali Baig | 26 | 112 | England | Manchester | 1959 |
| The first Indian to score a hundred while making debut in an overseas Test, Baig played nine more Tests without scoring another hundred. | ||||||
| 5 | Hanumant Singh | 105 | 23 | England | Delhi | 1963-64 |
| Played 13 more Tests without scoring another hundred. | ||||||
| 6 | Gundappa Viswanath | 0 | 137 | Australia | Kanpur | 1969-70 |
| First player ever to score a hundred on Test debut after scoring a duck in the first innings, Viswanath was also the first player to score a hundred on both first-class and Test debut. He ended his career with 6,080 runs in 91 Tests with 14 hundreds. | ||||||
| 7 | Surinder Amarnath | 124 | 9 | New Zealand | Auckland | 1975-76 |
| Lala and Surinder Amarnath provided the first instance of a father-son combination scoring a hundred on Test debut. Like his father, Surinder also failed to score another hundred in his Test career. | ||||||
| 8 | Mohammad Azharuddin | 110 | - | England | Kolkata | 1984-85 |
| After scoring a hundred on Test debut, he also scored a hundred in his second Test and then in his third Test too -- the first player in Test cricket to do so. Azhar ended his career with a total of 22 hundreds in 99 Tests with over 6,000 runs. | ||||||
| 9 | Pravin Amre | 103 | - | South Africa | Durban | 1992-93 |
| Played 10 more Tests without scoring another hundred. | ||||||
| 10 | Sourav Ganguly | 131 | - | England | Lord's | 1996 |
| Scored a hundred in his second Test too; ended his career with 7,212 runs from 113 Tests with a total of 16 hundreds. | ||||||
| 11 | Virender Sehwag | 105 | 31 | South Africa | Bloemfontein | 2001-02 |
| Among all Indian players who scored a hundred on Test debut, Virender Sehwag ended with most Tests (104), most runs (8,586), most hundreds (23) and most triple hundreds (2). | ||||||
| 12 | Suresh Raina | 120 | - | Sri Lanka | Colombo SSC | 2010 |
| Played 17 more Tests without scoring another hundred. | ||||||
| 13 | Shikhar Dhawan | 187 | - | Australia | Mohali | 2012-13 |
| Shikhar scored the highest score on Test debut by an Indian, which was also the fastest hundred by a debutant (85 balls). Shikhar has so far scored a total of seven hundreds in 34 Tests. | ||||||
| 14 | Rohit Sharma | 177 | - | West Indies | Kolkata | 2013-14 |
| Rohit followed his debut hundred with another hundred in the second Test (reaching the mark with a six), he then did not reach the three-figure mark in the next 19 Tests. He has, however, scored six hundreds in his last 22 Tests. | ||||||
| 15 | Prithvi Shaw | 134 | - | West Indies | Rajkot | 2018-19 |
| Prithvi -- like Viswanath -- also holds the distinction of scoring hundreds on both first-class and Test debut. He was also the youngest Indian to score a ton on Test debut. Prithvi has, however, not scored another hundred in four more Tests he has played. | ||||||
| 16 | Shreyas Iyer | 105 | - | New Zealand | Kanpur | 2021-22 |
| Iyer emulated his coach Pravin Amre to become the 16th Indian to score a hundred on Test debut. | ||||||
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
