Scoring a Test hundred is always a big landmark in a batsman’s career. Over the years, we have seen many great cricketers scoring lots of Test hundreds, but the satisfaction and happiness they get after scoring a Test hundred is always the same, in fact, it is ever increasing.
The purists of the game still believe that a Test hundred is the biggest individual achievement for a batsman, in the game of cricket.
In this article, we will have a look at all those great batsmen who have scored hundreds in both innings of a Test match, on 2 or more occasions. This is a very elite category of batsmen because scoring hundreds in both innings on 2 or more occasion is a marvelous achievement and not many have achieved this feat.
So far, there have been 74 occasions of a player scoring 100-plus in both innings of the Test. But, Ricky Ponting and Sunil Gavaskar have done it the most number of times – three times. Ten other batsmen have scored centuries in both innings of the Test twice in their career.
The table below lists all those players who have centuries in both innings of the Test on 2 or more occasions:
| Number | Player |
| 3 | SM Gavaskar |
| 3 | RT Ponting |
| 2 | AR Border |
| 2 | GS Chappell |
| 2 | PA de Silva |
| 2 | R Dravid |
| 2 | ML Hayden |
| 2 | GA Headley |
| 2 | JH Kallis |
| 2* | KC Sangakkara |
| 2 | H Sutcliffe |
| 2 | CL Walcott |
We can see that this list comprises of many great Test batsmen, from Sunil Gavaskar to Kumar Sangakkara. Former Australian captain scored centuries in both innings in his 100th Test match. Former Indian captain and Kumar Sangakkara and former Australian captain Ricky Ponting top the list. Both of these great batsmen achieved this feat thrice.
In this list, only Kumar Sangakkara* hasn’t retired and he still has the opportunity to top the table in his future matches. All other batsmen in this list have now retired.
If scoring more than 90 runs in both innings of the Test is considered, Ricky Ponting(4), PA de Silva (3), Sunil Gavaskar(3). Kumar Sangakkara(2), Rahul Dravid(2), Mathew Hayden(2), CL Walcott(2), H Sutcliffe(2), GA Headley(2) and Jacques Kallis(3) have been unlucky to miss out on scoring centuries in both innings of a Test match.
It’s also noteworthy that former Australian captain Allan Border is the only player to score 150 plus in both innings of a Test match.
No batsman has ever scored double centuries in consecutive innings of a Test match.
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By The Cricket Lounge
Note: Stats updated till 02/12/2014
