3 youngest Indian cricketers to score a Test century

Breaking into the Indian Test team is a humongous task for any player. Cricket is nothing short of a religion in India, and the competition at the highest level is extremely intense.

While representing the country is something that every cricketer is proud of, there are those who enter the team at a very young age and immediately leave an indelible mark with their talent. These are men who are extremely gifted, and whose potential is obvious right from the outset.

In this article, let us look at the three youngest Indian cricketers to score a Test century.

#3 Kapil Dev

Kapil Dev

Kapil Dev will go down as the greatest all-rounder ever produced by the Indian team. In a career spanning 16 years, the legendary player took Indian cricket to great heights and was a folk hero for millions.

Kapil was the first genuine fast bowler that India produced, and he retired as the highest wicket taker in Test cricket with 434 scalps to his name.

Kapil was also an extremely useful batsman, and scored 5248 runs for India including eight hundreds and 27 fifties. He scored his first Test hundred when he was just 20 years and 18 days old, against the West Indies in the year 1979.

His 126* propelled India to a first innings total of 566/8. Even though the West Indies were shot out for just 172 in the first innings, they managed to draw the match by holding firm in the second innings.

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#2 Prithvi Shaw

Prithvi Shaw

At No. 2 comes the diminutive right-handed batsman Prithvi Shaw. The talented Mumbai batsman marked his Test debut in style by scoring a whirlwind 134 runs in his first innings in Test cricket against a hapless West Indies bowling attack at Rajkot in 2018.

Shaw's century, coupled with tons from skipper Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, helped India pile up a first innings total of 649 runs on the board. The hosts walloped the West Indies by an innings and 272 runs.

Shaw was just 18 years and 329 days old when he scored his first hundred for India.

#1 Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar

You talk of batting records, and this man’s name has to figure in the list. Hailed as the ‘God of Cricket’, Tendulkar holds just about every single batting record in the longest format of the game including that for the most runs (15921), most hundreds (51) and most fifties (68).

The ‘Little Master’ started his career at the tender age of 16, and went on to play for almost a quarter of a century at the international level. He scored his first Test century in the year 1990, against England at Manchester.

Tendulkar's stunning 119* in the fourth innings of the Test helped India salvage a draw from the jaws of defeat. He was just 17 years and 107 days old when he scored his first Test hundred for India, and his record stands tall even today.