Test cricket in 2016 got a fresh lease of life in various ways. It also saw some extraordinary knocks which created new records. Azhar Ali of Pakistan scored the first triple hundred of the year and Joe Root scored a magnificent 254.
In 2016, there were multiple world class innings in International cricket in the longest format of the game but there were few that stood out. Let us take a look at them.
#1 Karun Nair (India) 303* v England at Chennai, Dec 16-20, 2016
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2016 will be the most memorable year of Karun Nair’s cricket career for years to come. He scored the highest individual Test score of 2016 right towards the end of the year. Playing in just his third Test, the 24-year-old Karun Nair smashed a triple century in the fifth and final Test match of the of the India-England series.
The hosts needed to score big after England scored 477 in their first innings. Nair, who came in at No. 5, looked a little unsettled in the beginning, but once he reached his maiden hundred, he batted without any fear. He played all kinds of sweep, deployed the upper-cut, and drove magnificently to become the second Indian to score a triple hundred after Virender Sehwag.
Nair was batting on 71 when he began the fourth day and went on to score 232 more runs in a single day’s play before the home team declared. The triple century also helped India post its highest ever Test score – 759-7- and bowl England out for 207 to win the match by an innings and 75 runs.
#2 Asad Shafiq (Pakistan) 137 v Australia at Brisbane, Dec 15-19, 2016
It is not the 137, but the scenario in which those runs was scored. Chasing 490 in the final innings against Australia in the 1st Test, Pakistan had almost lost the battle.
But Asad Shafiq, coming at No.6, with the score reading 173-5 and all the noted batsmen having gone, played a brilliant knock under immense pressure. He kept forming crucial partnerships with all the lower-order batsmen and took his team close to the target.
The 30-year-old played some lovely strokes and left the moving balls under lights beautifully well. If not for his 10th century, Pakistan would have suffered another huge embarrassment.
After Shafiq fell on 137 off a yorker from Mitchell Starc, Pakistan bundled out 39 short of the target. But nevertheless, it was a terrific innings which enabled Pakistan to post one of the highest ever fourth-innings totals in Tests and lose with dignity.
#3 Azhar Ali (Pakistan) 302* v West Indies at Dubai, Oct 13, 2016
Critics argued that West Indies is a team that lacks deadly fast bowlers, and the wicket in Dubai is a batsman’s paradise, but a triple century is a special record always, especially when the conditions in a pink ball match favour the bowlers. It was indeed a special innings from Pakistan’s ODI captain Azhar Ali, who has often been questioned by critics for his lack of ability to play the short ball against quality pace bowlers.
Pakistan won the match by 56 runs and Ali was rightly adjudged Man of the Match. Ali is also one of the very few international players to make his Test debut before having ODI experience on his international resume.
#4 Virat Kohli (India) 235 v England at Mumbai, Dec 8-12, 2016
Continuing his remarkable form in the year, the Indian skipper in all 3 formats, Virat Kohli, scored a magnificent double hundred – his third of the year – in the fourth Test against England. The special highlight of this knock was that it came when India were under pressure – 307-6 while chasing England’s first innings score of 400.
But Kohli formed a superb partnership with Jayant Yadav and scored a splendid career-best 235 on a bouncy track. The incredible effort helped India post 631 and win the match by an innings and 36 runs.
#5 Adam Voges (Australia) 239 v New Zealand at Wellington, Feb 12, 2016
Batting in Wellington is never easy since the wicket is more often than not in the bowlers’ favour. But Australia’s Adam Voges picked the perfect platform – Brendon McCullum’s 100th Test match – to hit a double century and take away the limelight away from the Kiwi skipper.
Batting first, the hosts had managed to score just 183 as the visiting bowlers made hay. But led by Voges’s patient double hundred, Australia managed to score 562 in their first innings. And that was enough to help the yellow brigade win the opening game of the series. Voges was deservedly given the Man of the Match award.
Among these, Younis Khan’s 218 against England in August and Ben Stokes’ 258 v South Africa in January, are also worth a mention.
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