Several Indian greats who also served as captains in Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) hit a century or more against the Aussies
Over the years, India has had a string of captains who were great with the willow. Therefore, from India’s end, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has witnessed several Indian captains scoring a tonne or more against the Aussies. In fact, two players who served as India’s skippers and represented India in BGTs have had nine centuries. While one of them is retired, the other one is still active.
Ahead of the Friday day-night pink-ball Test to be played at the Adelaide Oval, take a look at all those Indian captains who scored a century or more against the Aussies in the BGT.
Virat Kohli, who led India in 10 BGT games, sits at the top with nine centuries in the tournament’s history. He recently scored his career’s 30th Test in Perth and equalised the record of Sachin Tendulkar, who retired with nine centuries in the BGT. One more, and Virat Kohli surpasses Tendulkar’s record. In 10 matches, Virat Kohli had secured three wins.
Tendulkar was India’s captain in four Border-Gavaskar Trophy matches, having won only one. However, his nine centuries remained at the top for many years and still sit alongside Kohli. Over the years, several of his records have been smashed by Kohli, but once Sachin admitted that his records will be broken by an Indian, he would be more than happy.
Virender Sehwag was India’s captain in BGT for only one game in 2012, which India lost. However, in his career, he played 22 BGT games, scoring three centuries against the mighty Aussies and maintaining a strike rate of 75.20 throughout his tenure during the BGT. He even scored the highest of 195 in one of the matches.
With a 75 per cent win rate, Ajinkya Rahane was very successful in handling India against the Aussies, even though he captained only four games but won three of them. Not to forget, the fourth one was a draw and not a loss. Rahane’s last BGT appearance was in 2021, having first played in 2013. In 17 games he played against Australia in BGT, Rahane scored two centuries.
Rahul ‘The Wall’ Dravid played 32 BGT games in his career and captained India in two of them, winning one and losing the other. When it comes to centuries in the coveted series, he had retired with two centuries against the Baggy Greens.
Finally, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Mohammad Azharuddin, and Rohit Sharma have scored one century each. Dhoni led India in 13 BGT matches, whereas Azharuddin captained India in three games. Rohit Sharma, so far, has led India in four games, having won two, lost one, and had one draw.
Rohit Sharma is the only active captain on this list and has the opportunity to add a few more and increase the pecking order. Even three centuries will put him above Sehwag and get him third place. Given his recent lean phase with the willow, we certainly hope for a few centuries for him. a
