4 greats who have never scored a Test hundred on Indian soil

Sub-continent has always been a ‘do not go to’ place for batsmen from foreign countries. Over the years, we have seen how visiting teams fail to adapt to the spin-friendly conditions and find themselves unable to withstand the spinners who can turn the ball miles. Even after playing here for a number of years, spin still remains a big mystery which the foreign batsmen have not deciphered yet.

Just like Indian batsmen find it a great success to score a hundred on lively pitches overseas, similarly, it is a notable feat for batsmen from Non-Asian countries to score a hundred on the Indian soil. Even those who have been the best in the business have found it extremely tough to score runs in India and as result, their record in India does not reflect their reputation at all. One possible reason for their failure in Indian conditions is the inability to pick the variations of the spinners.

In this article, we will take a look at 4 greats of the game who could never score a hundred on the Indian soil.

Note: Only those players who have scored 7000 or more Test runs, 15 or more hundreds and played at least 3 Test matches in India have been considered here.

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#4 Chris Gayle

The King of Kingston Chris Gayle is arguably the most popular overseas player in the IPL. He has captivated the Indian crowd with his brutal hitting and has provided great entertainment over the years.

However, you might not know that in red-ball cricket on the Indian soil, Gayle has never reached the 3-figure mark. Gayle has toured India twice in his career for Test matches (2002 and 2013) and has played 5 Tests scoring 257 runs at an average of 28. His highest score in India was 88.

Gayle is one of the 4 batsmen to score 2 triple hundreds in Test cricket. His first triple ton came against South Africa at Guyana in 2005. 5 years later, he followed it up with a scintillating 333 against Sri Lanka at Galle.

#3 Justin Langer

Justin Langer was one of the best openers Australia has ever had. He formed an impeccable duo with his fellow teammate Matthew Hayden and together the pair gave Australia great starts in the early nineties. Langer, however, did not enjoy as much success in India as he did in other countries.

He toured India twice (2001 and 2004) and played 7 Tests and his sub-par numbers read 389 runs at an average of 29 with just 3 fifties. Surprisingly, a man who scored 23 hundreds in his Test career did not get one in India. The Spin-friendly Indian conditions coupled with great bowlers like Kumble and Harbhajan proved to be too good for Justin.

Langer’s international career saw 7696 runs from 105 Tests at an average of 45. Langer did manage to score a double-hundred against India (223 off 355) but that was in Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2000.

#2 Graeme Smith

South Africa's greatest Test captain has also been a juggernaut with the bat, churning runs all over the world in Test cricket. However, India has been a tough nut to crack for the 'Biff'. Graeme Smith toured India thrice in his career for Test matches (2004, 2008 and 2010) but could only manage 431 runs at an average of 36 without a hundred.

His rivalry against Zaheer Khan was a treat to watch for the Indian fans as Zaheer has got the better of Smith on quite a few occasions. It played a major factor in Smith's dismal tours with the bat to India.

In his career, Smith scored 9265 runs at an average of close to 48 from 117 Test matches and is undoubtedly one of the best openers South Africa has ever produced.

#1 Brian Lara

The Prince of Trinidad was one of the greatest batsmen of his era and on many occasions a lone fighter in the Windies team. Brian Lara was known to play marathon innings without breaking a sweat once he got set.

Being the holder of many prestigious records, including the record for highest Test score by a batsman in an innings, the only regret in Lara's career will be not scoring a century on the Indian soil. He played 3 Tests in India in 1994 scoring 198 runs at an average of 33. He got into the nineties once (91) but couldn't kick on to get a big one. Thereafter, he hasn't toured India again.

Lara was once the leading run-scorer in Test cricket before Sachin Tendulkar leapfrogged him in 2008. In 131 Test matches, Lara scored 11953 runs at an average of 52 including 34 Test hundreds