Top 3 Indian Test batsmen in 2019
Team India had a memorable year in Test matches in 2019. They played a total of eight Tests in the year, and remained undefeated. After a rain-hit draw in the New Year Test at Sydney, which saw India clinch a series in Down Under for the first time, India went on to defeat West Indies in an away series 2-0.
On returning home, they thrashed a hapless South African outfit 3-0, and rounded off the year with a 2-0 series win over Bangladesh, including victory in India's first-ever Day-night Test in Kolkata. India won their last four Tests by an innings margin, a new record.
The year saw Rohit Sharma revive his Test career, finding instant success in his new avatar as an opener. Mayank Agarwal built on his memorable debut late last year. Significantly, vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane returned to form, while skipper Virat Kohli had an usual great year in office.
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Here’s a look at India’s top three batsmen in Tests in 2019.
#1 Mayank Agarwal
With 754 runs in eight Tests, opener Mayank Agarwal was the leading run-scorer of the year for India. He began 2019 with a memorable 77 in the New Year Test in Sydney. After a lull in West Indies, he was in roaring form again against South Africa at home.
Agarwal registered his maiden hundred at Visakhapatnam, and converted it into a double hundred. In the very next Test against the Proteas in Pune, he notched up his second century, scoring 108. Agarwal wasn’t done yet though. In the first Test against Bangladesh in Indore, he smashed 243, thus becoming the second-fastest in the world to register two double centuries. Agarwal got there in 12 innings, overtaking Sir Don Bradman (13 innings).
#2 Ajinkya Rahane
After a couple of very poor seasons, this was the kind of year vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane desperately needed to keep his career afloat. In eight Tests, Rahane accumulated 642 runs at an average of 71.33 with two hundreds and five fifties.
Rahane scored a crucial 81 in the first innings of the North Sound Test after India had crumbled to 25 for 3. In the second innings of the same Test, he brought up his first Test century in two years. After a half-century in the second Test, Rahane carried his form into the home games as well. His last four scores of the year read - 59, 115 (vs South Africa), 86, 51 (vs Bangladesh).
#3 Rohit Sharma
It was incredibly difficult to keep Virat Kohli out of the top three list. After all, he amassed 612 runs in eight Tests at an average of 68.00 with a career-best 254 not out against South Africa. However, Rohit Sharma only just pipped his captain to make the third spot, following an incredible start as Test opener.
With no place in the middle-order available, Rohit was asked to open the innings, and he responded in stunning fashion with hundreds in both innings against South Africa in Visakhapatnam. With 13 sixes in the game, he broke Wasim Akram’s record (12 sixes) for most sixes in a Test match. Further, in the Ranchi Test, Rohit went on to score his maiden double hundred - 212. In five Tests in 2019, the makeshift opener totalled 556 runs at an average of 92.66 and a strike rate of 75.95.