Top 10 Highest individual scores by Indian Test captains

Leading the Indian team in any format isn’t an easy job. The burden of expectation is really high and many often crumble under the pressure, especially if you are a batsman. Underperforming while leading the side can be fatal careerwise. But, for some, the added responsibility is just an opportunity to grow into a much better and dominant player. They lead by setting examples themselves. And, perhaps the best way to lead the side as a batter and a skipper at the same time is to hit massive scores and set up easy roads to victories for your team. There has been no lack of such leaders for India who have smashed big centuries as skippers and helped India dominate the opposition. Here are the top 10 Highest individual scores by Indian Test captains. 10. Rahul Dravid – 146 v West Indies, 2006: Indian batsman Rahul Dravid (L) receives the Man-of-the-Series prize. (Photo by WILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty Images) Dravid led a fairly experienced Indian team to the West Indies and registered a historic 1-0 series win. One of the most memorable games of the 4-match series was the drawn 2nd Test at Gros Islet. The Indians had a run fest in the game. Batting first the visitors piled on 588 with the help of Virender Sehwag’s 180, Mohammad Kaif’s 148 and skipper Dravid’s 146. Sehwag gave a stellar start and put up 159 for the first wicket with Wasim Jaffer. Dravid joined him in the middle after Jaffer and No.3 VVS Laxman fell in quick successions. Both played in contrasting style with Sehwag hitting almost everything which came to his sight and Dravid maintaining his defensive approach. No bowler could worry Dravid or Sehwag as the duo went on to put up 139 for the 3rd wicket. The skipper continued with the same flair after losing Sehwag and went on to complete his century batting with Kaif for company. His marathon 234-ball knock came to an unusual end as he lost his wicket to part-timer Ramnaresh Sarwan. 9. Kapil Dev – 163 v Sri Lanka, 1986: Kapil Dev. (Photo by David Munden/Popperfoto/Getty Images) Kapil Dev was a gem of a player. Considered as the greatest all-rounder Indian has ever seen, the 1983 World Cup winning skipper was a master with the ball and was equally dangerous with the bat at No.7. The visiting Sri Lankan side got a taste of his batting ability when Kapil smashed his career-best Test score of 163 in the 1st Test at the Green Park Stadium, Kanpur. The green track on offer suited the batmen more than the bowlers as both the teams enjoyed a run fest. Sri Lanka, after opting to bat first, posted 420 in the first innings. India gave a strong reply with 676/7 in the second innings – Sunil Gavaskar (176), Mohammad Azharuddin (199) and Kapil Dev (163) smashed the Lankan all around the park. Kapil came in pretty late in the innings after Ravi Shastri’s departure. He saw no challenge in the opposition bowling attack and went berserk. Boundaries came at regular intervals from his bat as he piled on 276 runs for the 6th wicket at more than 5 runs an over. Kapil cracked 19 four and a six during his knock which helped India post their highest total in all Tests and the highest in a Test match in India. Also read – Top 10 Highest individual scores at number 6 in Tests 8. Vijay Hazare – 164* v England, 1951: Vijay Hazare (V S Hazare). (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images) Mumbai’s batting phenomenon – Vijay Hazare slammed an unbeaten 164 in his first Test as a skipper against England at Delhi. The 1st Test of the 5-match series evenly fought drawn match where Hazare along with his Mumbai mate Vijay Merchant cracked respective tons to help India post a formidable 418 in reply to England’s first inning total of 203. India were put in a position to dictate by the Mumbai duo of Merchant and Hazare who played out the English bowlers for 5 hours and ten minutes to contribute 211 and take India to a safe position before Merchant lost his wicket after his seven and a half hour stay at the crease. Hazare was unruffled and continued batting to reach 164* before declaring the innings on day four of the match. His knock spanned eight hours thirty-five minutes and took India to 418/6 in 175 overs. Consequently, England had a burden of 215 runs to overhaul with over two days. Fortunately, the visitors managed to do so as the saved the Test by batting out the remaining days ending at 368/6 to draw the game. 7. Mohammad Azharuddin – 192 v New Zealand, 1990: Mohammad Azharuddin batting during his innings of 179. (Photo by David Munden/Popperfoto/Getty Images) Mohammad Azharuddin smashed his way into the record books in just his 2nd Test as skipper after scoring a marvellous 192 against the hosts New Zealand at Napier. It was a majestic knock from the artistic batsman from Hyderabad. The Kiwis were pushed on the backfoot by Indian bowlers who made most of the humid conditions and the lateral movement off the pitch and brought them down to 85/6 before Richard Hadlee and Ian Smith met aggression with aggression and helped their team reach 391. India in reply, India lost an early wicket, Sanjay Manjrekar and Manoj Prabhakar also couldn’t do much. However, things began to fall in line for the Indians after Dilip Vengsarkar fought it out with the masterful Mohammad Azharuddin. Both added 144 for the fourth wicket. Azharuddin looked at his best batting with a polite contempt. Wickets were falling at the other end but there was no stopping as the trademark wristy strokes accumulated runs at gentle rate. He reached his century from 144 balls and went on to score 192 before becoming the last man to get out. Also read – Top 10 Highest margins of defeat in Tests 6. Virat Kohli – 200 v West Indies, 2016: India cricketer Virat Kohli kisses the ground after reaching 200 runs. (Photo by DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images) Virat Kohli carried forward his fine run of form from the shorter formats of the game into Tests as he smashed a wonderful 200 in the first Test against the West Indies at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. After opting to bat first, India lost opener Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara cheaply. Kohli, came in at No.4 and steadied the ship with Shikhar Dhawan. Both pushed the run rate after a slow start. After Dhawan, he found support in Ravichandran Ashwin who was promoted to No.6. He reached his 12th century on day one and went on to convert it into his maiden double ton on the second day off his 281st delivery. He also became the first Indian skipper to score an overseas double century. Unfortunately, he could not convert it into something bigger as he lost his wicket a ball later to Shannon Gabriel. 5. MAK Pataudi – 203* v England: MAK Pataudi. (Photo Source: Telegraph.co.uk) MAK Pataudi displayed a batting masterclass during the 4th Test against England at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, Delhi. After failing to get going in the first innings Pataudi made sure that he leads by example as he slammed an unbeaten double ton to help India fight the dominant Englishmen and draw the match. India in the 1st innings managed just 344 with the Nawab contributing only 13. In reply, England posted a mighty 451 with the help of Colin Cowdrey’s 151. India put up a sturdy show in the 3rd innings as Pataudi batted for close 430 minutes in his marathon knock of 203. His first 100 came at a lethargic pace as he batted for 97 overs for his first 100 with luck saving him twice in the nineties. But his next 103 runs came in 40 overs time. His adamant looking knock helped India post 463 for the loss of just 4 fours wicket as both teams settled for a sporting draw. 4. Sunil Gavaskar – 205 v West Indies: Sunil Gavaskar in action for India. (Photo by David Munden/Popperfoto/Getty Images) Hitting centuries against ruthless bowlers was sort of a hobby for this short man with a giant stature. Even the burden of captaincy did not stop Sunil Gavaskar, the prolific run maker, from slamming hundreds. After hitting a century in his first match as a skipper, Gavaskar, two years later cracked a fine 205 in Mumbai against his favorite opposition and also the best at that time – West Indies. It was the first Test of the 6-match home series in 1978. India were put into bat first and Gavaskar made most of the opportunity. It was an aggressive display of batting from him. He did the bulk of the scoring at the start and reached his century and converted it into a double century on day 2 itself after resuming on 28. His knock included 2 sixes and 27 fours. Also read – Top 10 Players with most man of the series awards for India in Tests 3. Sachin Tendulkar – 217 v New Zealand, 1999: Sachin Tendulkar. (Photo Source: PA Photos) Sachin Tendulkar brought up his maiden double hundred in Test cricket in 1999. It was a day when Sachin had the Kiwis running for covers. Playing at the Motera Cricket Ground Ahmedabad, Tendulkar, the newly appointed skipper, cruised his way to 217 on a pitch which was firm and got slower after each session. But, despite the slowness the batting condition were tad challenging due to the low bounce and carry. The effect was visible on Tendulkar as well. It took him some time to get going but soon he settled in. He reached his century in 157 balls after surviving twice in the nineties. After ending the day two unbeaten, Tendulkar resumed his innings on 2nd day and eventually reached the double ton off 344 balls studded with 29 fours. Another speciality of his knock was the 281 runs stand for the fourth wicket with Sourav Ganguly. He was shortly unpicked by left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori after adding 17 more runs to his total. Back then, it was also his highest first-class score. He later struck 241 against the Australians but wasn’t the skipper at that time. 2. MS Dhoni – 224 v Australia, 2013: (Photo Source: BCCI) The 1st Test of the Border-Gavaskar trophy was a match eclipsed by MS Dhoni‘s career best knock of 224. Australia, with as many as 8 players playing for the first time in India, had a good start to the series batting well for the first two days. The match was sort of evenly poised after Sachin Tendulkar’s solid half-century. However, what happened after day 3 took away the little amount of advantage the visitors had as MS Dhoni batted majestically to annihilate the Australian bowling attack, scoring 224 runs in just 265 balls, the highest Test score by an Indian wicketkeeper – surpassing Budhi Kunderan’s 192. His inning was enough to power India to 572 in the end and earn a lead of 192 runs. The Indian skipper muscled the fast bowling attack comprising James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc and Peter Siddle. In all, it was the best knock of Dhoni’s Test career. Also read – Top 10 wicket keepers with most Test centuries 1. Virat Kohli – 235 v England, 2016: Virat Kohli (Photo Source: BCCI) Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli scored the third triple century of the year and his career against England in the fourth Test of the five-match series. It was a crucial game for the team as they looked to close the series with a game in hand. He walked out to bat at a crucial time, in the first over of the third day. Virat got going and soon the English bowlers found their balls racing away to the fence at all parts of the ground. Adil Rashid gave him a life after his half century and he made them pay big for it. He got to his century and remained unbeaten at the end of day 3. The fourth day was once again all about Virat’s batting. He entered 150s and soon was at the verge of yet another double ton. He flicked a Rashid delivery to midwicket for a single and the Wankhede crowd erupted to celebrate the moment with him. His knock ended on 235 as Ben Stokes had him caught by James Anderson. Virat scored 25 boundaries and a six on his way to the highest Test score by an Indian captain. (All stats updated till 11 December, 2016)

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Top 10 Highest individual scores by Indian Test captains

**5. MAK Pataudi – 203* v England:**

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