5 youngest Test debutants for India
Playing Test cricket is a dream for any cricketer, and playing in the longest form of the game before turning 18 is a commendable achievement. At the same time, making your Test debut at a very young age could also backfire if you're too raw for international cricket.
In the past, the Indian team had handed debut Test caps to players even before they turned 18, but not everyone was as successful. On that note, let us take a look at the five youngest players to represent India in Tests.
#5 Maninder Singh - 17 years and 193 days
Just before the 1983 World Cup, one name that was creating waves in the Indian cricket circuit was Delhi's 17-year-old slow-left-arm spinner, Maninder Singh. The youngster was troubling almost all the batsmen in the domestic circuit and was soon rewarded with the national call-up.
He even went on to create history by becoming the youngest ever Indian to play Test cricket debuting at the age of 17 years and 193 days. He remained wicketless in the match as Pakistan beat India by an innings and 86 runs.
Unfortunately, the then-teenager could not live up to his potential as he managed to play just 35 matches in his career spanning over 12 years. In those 35 matches, he managed to score 99 runs at an average of 3.80 and picked up 88 wickets at an average of 37.36 with his best bowling in an innings being 7/27.
#4 Parthiv Patel - 17 years and 152 days
There was a time when India didn't have a proper wicketkeeper-batsman, and at times, Rahul Dravid had to take the burden of donning the wicketkeeper's gloves. After Nayan Mongia, India tried out the likes of Sameer Dighe and Ajay Ratra among others, but none of them could seal their spot in the Test side.
Ahead of the all-important Test tour of England, a 17-year-old Parthiv Patel got the nod, and the Gujarat wicketkeeper-batsman was included in the Indian playing XI for the second Test at Nottingham when he was just 17 years and 152 days old.
Unfortunately, he was an unfinished product by the time he made his debut and lost his place soon after. By the time he matured as a player, MS Dhoni was holding fort in the Indian team, and it was tough for Patel to get into the side.
While he has shown flashes of his abilities in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy season, a comeback is unlikely because Patel is now on the wrong side of 35.
#3 Laxman Sivaramakrishnan - 17 years and 118 days
Just like Maninder Singh, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan was an exciting prodigy, who showed a lot of potential in the domestic circuit, playing for Tamil Nadu.
He impressed everyone with his consistent show, and just a month before the 1983 World Cup, the leg-spinner was called into the Indian team for the tour of West Indies. When he made his debut at St. John's, he was just 17 years and 118 days, and he broke Maninder's record of being the youngest player to play Test Cricket for India.
Sadly, the Indian team could not bring out the best of the leggie as he managed to play just nine Tests in his career and picked 26 wickets at an average of 44.
#2 Piyush Chawla - 17 years and 75 days
Despite being associated with the Indian team for ages, leg-spinner Piyush Chawla is just 31 years old and is a few days younger than Indian skipper Virat Kohli. Days after the conclusion of the 2006 Under-19 World Cup, Chawla was drafted into the national squad as he made his Test debut against England in March 2006 at the age of 17 years and 75 days.
Since making his debut in Mohali in 2006, Chawla managed to play only two more Test matches, with the last one coming against the same opposition in 2012. He managed to take just seven wickets in those matches at an average of 39.
#1 Sachin Tendulkar - 16 years and 205 days
A young 16-year-old batsman from Mumbai, Sachin Tendulkar, was named in the Indian Test squad for the tour of Pakistan in 1989 and went on to make his debut in Karachi at the age of 16 years and 205 days. This made him the youngest to play Test cricket for India, a record that stands to date.
Unlike the other four players on the list, Tendulkar had a fantastic career, and by the time he hung up his boots, he was considered the greatest batsman to have graced the sport. He holds more records than the number of matches the other four have played in their career.
In his glorious career that spanned 24 years, he played 200 Tests and scored 15921 runs at an average of 53.78 with 51 centuries and 68 fifties.
Here is a video of Sachin's first hunudred.