A century in England? It’s always nice. Like the perfect way to end the day that has been about smiles and happiness galore. But to score a Test ton against England in England is akin to hearing the news about a plush holiday in a serene Mediterranean nation- right?
That’s just how precious such a fact or achievement is. And while countless Indians have managed to do so, scoring fabulous hundreds against England in their country, there are quite a few talented names that missed out on doing so.
The who competed mightily against the English at their own backyard include Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and undoubtedly, Rahul Dravid. And the list extends.
But then there are also those who missed out on doing so. Tell you what, this list, in particular, is slightly perplexing given the talent and caliber of those involved in this one:
5 Famous Indian Batters who never scored Test Century in England
Shikhar Dhawan
The ability to time the ball and hit it to the smithereens is something that came quite naturallyh to Dhawan, who recently retired from all forms of international cricket. He is the owner of a career that perhaps deserved a longer run in the shorter formats. Having said that, he also owns a dubious bit of Test record against England. An impotant feature among the list of Indian batters who never scored a Test century against England, whether at home in India or in England. But certainly, Shikhar Dhawan, with 284 runs from 7 Tests against England ended his career with a batting average against the side that’s a little over 20. Looks
VVS Laxman
Classy, very soft silky-like and elegant to the core; one tends to run of adjectives when defining the captivating batting style of one of India’s finest strokemakers ever.
, who donned over Australia with lordly elegance, didn’t exactly make too many runs against one of India’s noted rivals- England.
While he played 17 of his 134 Tests against England, he never ended up scoring a century against the famed side. His highest score remains 75 and his batting average against the opponent doesn’t convey his overall class and caliber in the format. It being 30. That’s it.
Suresh Raina
When Raina debuted in tests for his country, his cap was handed out by the great Wall of Indian Cricket, Rahul Dravid.
However, unlike the great cricketer Raina himself admires greatly, the left hander’s career in test cricket wasn’t a particularly long one.
He’d only play 18 tests for India with 31 innings to his name. And against England, the otherwise glowing and daring batter didn’t exactly have as great time, his batting average being a little over 13.
Yet, while he never scored a three-figure-mark against England, Suresh Raina’s best score versus the English was 78 after playing 8 innings in red ball cricket against this team.
MS Dhoni
Now, here’s a bit of information that may just come in as a bit of a surprise to most cricket fans, not just from India. Rather, this is a shocker, if one must put it that way.
While he was a legendary captain and one whose place as an all-time great leader in the annals of Indian cricket can hardly ever be questioned, Dhoni has a dubious record in terms of being a batter in England where it comes to Test cricket.
Not once in his Test playing career opposing England did he score a solitary century.
While he played 21 Tests against England during the course of a long and checkered career, he came pitiably close to hitting a century against England when he made 99 at the Vidharba Stadium back home in India but got run out in the end.
Such is life. It’s often random and maybe inexplicable even.
Yuvraj Singh
One of the most stylish, charismatic and aggressive batters to have ever wielded the cricket bat for the country, Yuvraj Singh had a long white-ball career but only played 40 tests for India.
However, he did hit a fancy 169 against his nation’s archrivals Pakistan; the 2007 knock at the Chinnaswamy being a memorable outing with the bat for the blazing left hander.
However, Yuvi, as he’s called, never made a Test hundred against England, his highest score against the mighty opponents remains 86.
Although, he came close to scoring 500 Test runs against the English, ending his run tally at 471, to be precise in red-ball cricket.