10 Batsmen who narrowly missed out on a triple hundred
Scoring 300 in a Test match is a cherished dream for most batsmen. Only 26 cricketers have been able to achieve this feat till now, despite the batsman-friendly nature of the game.
Scoring a triple century is not an easy task as the batsman needs to be patient and control his instincts. It also requires quite a bit of luck to get there.
Cricket is not an individual sport. A batsman requires someone at the other end to build partnerships. On many occasions, they get close to 300 but run out of partners. One such instance occurred when Sir Don Bradman was stranded on the score of 299 and all the other 10 wickets fell.
Bradman did score two triple centuries in his career, but had he scored a 300 in that match he would have become the first (and only) player to score three triple centuries.
There have been 10 other batsmen have who come painfully close to scoring a triple century but could not quite reach the finish line. Here is a list of those:
#10 AB de Villiers
AB de Villiers is known for his ability to tear any bowling attack apart, especially in the limited overs formats. But he has been a brilliant batsman in Test cricket as well, where he averages over 50.
The South African has 22 hundred to his name and twice he went on to convert them into double hundreds.
In the second Test of South Africa's tour of UAE in 2010, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bowl first. South Africa lost three wickets in quick succession before AB de Villiers and Jacques Kallis stabilized the innings.
Kallis got out on the score of 105 but De Villiers continued to dent the morale of the Pakistani bowlers. He shared a partnership of 107 with Morne Morkel for the last wicket. But South African captain Graeme Smith decided to declare at 584/9 with de Villiers unbeaten on 278.