Stat Attack: Virat Kohli - Second fastest Indian to score 10 Test centuries (innings)

Virat Kohli has been in phenomenal form in the Border-Gavaskar Test series

Virat Kohli is having a great run in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. He began the Test series with 1,855 runs to his name in 51 innings at an average of 39.46 with six centuries. The series is yet to be completed, and he already has got over 600 runs with four centuries. He took his tally to 10 centuries in his 58th innings at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).

58 innings to reach 10 centuries is the second lowest number of innings by an Indian to get to the mark of 10 Test hundreds. The only one who achieved the feat in fewer innings than Kohli was Virender Sehwag. Sehwag scored his tenth Test century in his 55th Test innings against Pakistan in 2005. Kohli is, overall, the 13th Indian player to score 10 or more Test centuries. The first Indian to do so was Polly Umrigar in 1961.

The table below lists the number of innings and matches played by Indians to score 10 centuries in Test cricket.

Fewest innings to score 10 Test 100s for India

Batsman	Innings	Matches
Virender Sehwag	55	34
Mohammad Azharuddin	58	39
Virat Kohli	58	33
Sachin Tendulkar	59	41
Sunil Gavaskar	61	32
Polly Umrigar	78	50
Mohinder Amarnath	91	54
Rahul Dravid	96	56
Gundappa Viswanath	103	58
Ravi Shastri	109	72
Sourav Ganguly	113	68
VVS Laxman	121	76
Dilip Vengsarkar	135	83

Kohli is the joint second quickest to 10 Test centuries along with Mohammad Azharuddin. The maximum number of innings played by any Indian to score 10 Test centuries is 135 by Dilip Vengsarkar. Sachin Tendulkar took 59 innings and the next quickest is Sunil Gavaskar in 61 innings.

The 26-year-old has got to his 10th century in his 33rd Test match. The only Indian to get there in lesser number of matches is Sunil Gavaskar, who got to it in his 32nd Test match.

Let us see the batting average of Indians when they scored their 10th Test century:

Batting average of Indians at 10 Test centuries

Player	Avg
Virender Sehwag	55.98
Sachin Tendulkar	54.92
Rahul Dravid	52.62
Mohammad Azharuddin	51.33
Sunil Gavaskar	48.70
Virat Kohli	47.05*
Gundappa Viswanath	46.51
Mohinder Amarnath	44.87
VVS Laxman	43.18
Sourav Ganguly	41.42
Poly Umrigar	40.72
Dilip Vengsarkar	39.53
Ravi Shastri	35.49

Though Kohli is the second quickest to score 10 Test centuries for India, his average of 47.05 is only sixth in the list of highest averages. This table is again topped by Virender Sehwag. He averaged 54.92 when he scored ten centuries. The others having an average of above 50 at the point of scoring 10 centuries are Sachin Tendulkar (54.92), Rahul Dravid (52.62) and Mohammad Azharuddin (51.33).

Let us see who are the quickest to score 10 Test centuries overall:

Least number of innings to score 10 Test centuries (overall)

Player	Inns	Mat
Don Bradman (Australia)	23	16
George Headley (West Indies)	32	17
Arthur Morris (Australia)	36	22
Denis Compton (England)	40	25
Neil Harvey (Australia)	40	24
Herbert Sutcliffe (England)	44	29
Everton Weekes (West Indies)	45	28
Clyde Walcott (West Indies)	47	29
Vivian Richards (West Indies)	54	33
Wally Hammond (England)	54	32

Don Bradman is the obvious topper in any chart related to quickest to reaching centuries or batting averages. He scored his 10th century in only his 23rd innings, nine innings lesser than the next best, who is George Headley. Headley got there in his 32nd innings. The only other batsman to get there in less than 40 innings is Australia’s Arthur Morris, who did so in 36 innings.

If Kohli continues in his merry way, however, we may see his name in the list of quickest to 15 Test centuries and so on.

*Stats updated till January 8, 2015