7 interesting facts about Test double hundreds
Hashmatullah Shahidi recently became the first Afghanistan player to score a Test double hundred. He achieved the feat in the second Test between Afghanistan and Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi.
Double hundreds in cricket are an important landmark for any player. On that note, we'll take a look at seven facts about Test double hundreds.
Here are seven interesting facts about double hundreds.
#1 12th Man- The nation without a double hundred:
After Hashmatullah Shahidi’s double century, Ireland remain the only Test-playing nation without a double hundred. However, they are new to this format and it will only be a matter of time before they get one under their belt. The highest score for Ireland in Tests has been scored by Kevin O’Brien, who added 118 runs against Pakistan in 2018.
#2 Don leads the pack:
Sir Donald Bradman, one of the greatest cricketers of all time, has scored twelve double hundreds in his career. He scored them in only 52 Tests. Next on the list is Kumar Sangakkara with 11 double hundreds in 134 Tests. The third place is occupied by West Indian legend Brian Lara, who has nine double tons in 131 tests.
Among the current crop of players, the list is led by Indian captain Virat Kohli, who has seven Test double hundreds.
#3 Dashing debutants:
Only a few players have been privileged enough to score a double century in their first ever Test match. Tip Foster of England was the first to achieve this feat, in 1903. Since then, it has been repeated five times. The latest addition to the list was Kyle Mayers of West Indies, who scored an unbeaten 210 in a masterful chase against Bangladesh in February this year.
#4 Fastest double hundred in Tests:
The fastest double hundred in Tests was scored by Nathan Astle against England in 2002. He scored 222 off 168 balls and though, at no stage did New Zealand seem to threaten the English target of 550 runs, they still managed to get to 451. Nathan Astle completed hiss double ton in just 153 balls.
Ben Stokes scored the second fastest double hundred, off 163 balls versus South Africa in 2016.
#5 Slowest double hundred in Tests:
Brendon Kuruppu of Sri Lanka scored the slowest ever Test double hundred. He completed his double hundred in 548 balls versus New Zealand at Colombo. His knock featured 24 boundaries and took a total of 777 minutes.
#6 Missing out on a double hundred by one run:
Quite a few batsmen including Ian Bell, Kumar Sangakkara, Mudassar Nazar, Steve Waugh etc. have had the bad luck of missing out on a double hundred by just one run.
Mohammed Azharuddin, Matthew Elliot, Faf Du Plessis, Dean Elgar and KL Rahul have 199 as their highest Test scores. KL Rahul and Dean Elgar are active players and hence still have a chance of scoring a double hundred in Tests.
#7 Double Hundred and Hundred in the same Test:
Only a handful of players have scored a double hundred and a hundred in the same Test match.
These include some of the legends of the game like Greg Chappell, Sunil Gavaskar and Brian Lara.
Kumar Sangakkara and Graham Gooch stand out because they have recorded a triple hundred and a hundred in the same Test.