4 batsmen who scored a double century and a century in the same Test match
We have witnessed many outstanding individual knocks from legendary batsmen over the years in Test cricket. India's first batting superstar Sunil Gavaskar is considered the best batsmen of his era because of his immaculate consistency levels. He is one of the few batsmen to score a double century and century in the same match.
Team India's current skipper Virat Kohli also scored centuries in both the innings of a match when he captained India for the first time at Adelaide in 2014.
Such magnificent individual performances from batsmen are etched in the memories of cricket fans forever. We look at four batsmen who displayed exceptional levels of consistency and scored runs for their team in both the innings of a Test match.
#4 Sunil Gavaskar - 124 and 220 vs West Indies, 1971
Sunil Gavaskar is one of the most prolific batsmen in the history of Test cricket. In the first innings of the fifth Test of this tour, Sunil Gavaskar scored a magnificent century. It was Sunil Gavaskar's debut series in international cricket.
He opened the innings for India and put on valuable partnerships along with Dileep Sardesai and Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan to help India reach a decent first innings total of 360 runs. West Indies, in reply, made 526 runs in their first innings and got a lead of 166 runs.
Gavaskar then played a majestic knock in the second innings to steer India out of a crisis and put them in a commanding position. His 220-run knock helped India to score 427 runs in the second innings and set West Indies a target of 262 runs with around 40 overs left in the game. The West Indies team managed to escape narrowly with a draw as they were 165-8 at the end of the game.
#3 Brian Lara - 221 and 130 vs Sri Lanka, 2001
Brian Lara is one of the best batsmen of all time and is known for playing marathon innings in Test cricket.
In the first innings of the match, Lara scored a marvelous double hundred and helped his team get to 390 runs. In reply, the Sri Lankan team scored a mammoth first innings total of 627 on the back of impressive performances from their middle-order batsmen. Sri Lanka managed to get a lead of 237 runs after the end of the first innings.
In the second innings, Brian Lara fought valiantly to for his team by scoring 130 runs. However, he did not receive much support from the other batsmen except Ramnaresh Sarwan, who scored 66 runs to aid Lara's cause.
The West Indies team were all out for 262 runs in their second innings and set a target of 26 runs for the home team. In the end, Sri Lanka won the game comfortably by a ten-wicket margin when their batsmen finished the job.
#2 Kumar Sangakkara - 319 and 105 vs Bangladesh, 2014
Kumar Sangakkara is one of the best batsmen to emerge from Sri Lanka. After Angelo Mathews elected to bat upon winning the toss in the match, Kumar Sangakkara came in to bat at 39-1.
Sangakkara formed valuable partnerships along with the middle-order batsmen and led his team to a good first innings total of 587 runs. He scored 319 runs off 482 balls, which included 32 fours and eight sixes. It was his first triple century in international cricket.
In reply, Bangladesh scored 426 runs in their first innings. During Sri Lanka's second innings, Sangakkara scored an attacking century and increased Sri Lanka's lead from 161 runs to 466 runs.
He scored 105 runs off 144 balls in the second innings and helped his team to set a target of 467 runs for Bangladesh in the final innings. Bangladesh managed to draw the match after they ended the 5th day at 271-3
#1 Graham Gooch - 333 and 123 vs India, 1990
Former England captain and legend Graham Gooch was a prolific run-scorer against India throughout his career.
In the first innings of this match, he opened the batting for his team and put on a massive 308 runs partnership along with AJ Lamb. He later formed a 192-run partnership with Robin Smith to take England to a mammoth first innings total of 653.
Gooch played his career-best 333-run knock in this innings. He played 485 balls and hit 43 fours and three sixes during this innings. In reply, India scored 454 runs in their first innings.
Graham Gooch continued his outstanding form in the second innings and scored an attacking hundred to set a massive target of 472 runs for India in the last innings. He played a knock of 123 runs (off 113 balls) at a strike rate of 108.84, which included 13 fours and four sixes.