5 longest individual Test innings since 1990 (in minutes batted)

Test cricket is often referred to as a test of patience and mental strength in addition to the gruelling demands of physical fitness. We have witnessed many batsmen who have stood by the crease session after session and made bowlers sweat it out in the hot sun. Since 1990, there are 60 instances of an innings that lasted more than 600 minutes (10 hours) and 13 of them were above 700-minute mark.Interestingly, all of the top 7 longest innings during the period have either been against England or India and only one in the sub-continent.

#5 Brendon McCullum - 775 minutes

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum denied India a win when he became the first Kiwi cricketer to score a triple century at Wellington, 2014. In the second and final Test of the series, India bowled out the home side for 192 and accumulated 438 in reply as Ajinkya Rahane (118) and Shikhar Dhawan (98) starred with the bat. 

By the time the teams went in for Lunch on day 3, India had already dismissed the top 4 of the batting order including the three in the morning session. Soon after the break, McCullum (in at No.5) lost Corey Anderson and was staring at a certain defeat as they were still 152 runs behind.

The skipper then played the captain’s innings to perfection as he built two big partnerships with BJ Watling and James Neesham enroute to the his triple ton. Eventhough there were some views that Indians turned defensive allowing McCullum to bat through, it was undeniably one of the responsible and crucial knock played by a captain. His 559-ball stay ended as he nicked one to Dhoni off Zaheer Khan after reaching the landmark.

As a result of McCullum’s fighting knock, the Kiwis held on to a draw.