5 longest Test knocks against India
Test cricket is the true pinnacle of the Gentleman's Game wherein the players' temperament, attitude, quality, and endurance are tested to the core. Only the finest players can make it big in the longest format of the game and achieve true greatness.
The five-day format can prove unforgiving for players who are sometimes forced to bowl and field under the scorching sun for long hours. It can be equally taxing for the batsmen whose concentration and fitness are put to the test like no other.
Spending long hours at the crease is no easy task and very few players have been able to survive and face more than 500 balls in an innings in Test cricket history.
The Indian cricket team have also been on the receiving end on a few occasions where opposition batsmen have made them toil on the field for hours on end.
Let's have a look at the five longest knocks that have been played against India in terms of balls faced in Test history.
#5 Alastair Cook - 545 balls
3rd Test, India tour of England at Birmingham, August 10-13, 2011
Alastair Cook has been one of England's greatest ever Test batsmen in history and though his powers may be on the decline now, he has been a phenomenal servant for England cricket as a player at the top of the order as well as captain.
India's tour of England in 2011 was a big disaster for MS Dhoni's side as they were whitewashed 4-0 in the Test series, lost the lone T20I as well as the five-match ODI series 3-0.
The Test series was a one-sided affair as the hosts completely dominated the proceedings and during the third Test at Birmingham, Alastair Cook made merry of the hapless Indian bowling by playing a mammoth inning of 294 which came of 545 balls - still his highest score in Test cricket.
Cook spent 773 minutes in the middle as he smashed 33 boundaries during his knock that helped England post 710 on the board in their first innings. England skipper Andrew Strauss declared the England innings at the fall of Cook's wicket, dismissed by Ishant Sharma.
India, who were dismissed for 224 in the first innings, fared only marginally better in the second innings, scoring 244 runs as England won the match by an innings and 242 runs.
As expected, Alastair Cook bagged the Man-of-the-Match award.