The magical three-figure mark holds a distinct significance in the game, even 139 years after Charles Bannerman became the first centurion in Test cricket.
Recently, Younis Khan compiled his 32nd Test ton against England, and became only the tenth Test cricketer to have done so. If he manages to score three more, he will go past the likes of Brian Lara, Sunil Gavaskar and Mahela Jayawardene to join an elite list. Th 35 centuries barrier was first broken in December 2005.
Here’s the list of batsmen who have scored more than 35 Test tons:
#5 RAHUL DRAVID
Team India is indebted to “The Wall” for providing it a number of memorable wins, both in India and abroad. With a game tailor-made for the longest format, and a technique that looked impenetrable, Dravid was equally adept at playing both spin and pace.
He fell five runs short of getting to a hundred in his first Test innings itself, and notched up his first hundred in his ninth Test, against South Africa at Cape Town. Overall, he scored 36 Test centuries, the second most for India, with a high score of 270.
Dravid is the only batsman to have scored more than 10,000 Test runs at the number 3 position.
#4 KUMAR SANGAKKARA
Sri Lanka’s leading run-getter in both Tests and ODIs, Sangakkara retired from international cricket last year midway through a purple patch which saw him score four consecutive World Cup centuries, a record.
He has 11 double centuries in Test cricket, second only to Sir Don Bradman. He is also the only batsman to score more than 150 runs in four consecutive innings, as well as the fastest to 8000,9000,11000 and 12000 Test runs.
Sangakkara scored 38 Test centuries for Sri Lanka, the most for his country.
#3 RICKY PONTING
A pugnacious right-handed batsman with an eye to pick up lengths with ease, Ponting was famous for his flowing drives and elegant pull-strokes, and is the only cricketer in the world to have been part of 100 Test wins.
From December 1995 to 2012, the period in which he played Test cricket, he scored more runs than anyone else in the world.
The most successful batsman in Test history, Ponting scored 13,378 Test runs in 164 matches at an average of 51.85. He scored 41 Test tons, including the 242 against India at Adelaide, which still remains as the highest Test score in a losing cause.
#2 JACQUES KALLIS
The bulwark of South Africa’s batting throughout the 2000s, Kallis is, arguably the greatest all-rounder of the modern game.
With a penchant for plucking out gaps on the off side, and an unflappable temperament that stood him in good stead throughout his 166 Test career, which saw him become the leading run-getter for his country in Tests, and the third-most overall.
Kallis, with a high score of 224, scored 45 Test centuries. It took him two years, and seven Tests, to score his first century in Tests, but it is a hallmark of his remarkable consistency that from the start of 2000 till December 2013, when he ended his Test career, he scored most Test runs that anyone else in the game.
#1 SACHIN TENDULKAR
Thrust into the national side as a timid 16-year old, no one doubted his immense talent as a teenager, but few would have imagined then that he would go on to re-write the annals of the game and obliterate almost every batting record that came his way.
With a flawless technique and a nonpareil ability to gauge a delivery, Tendulkar stayed at the top of his game for over two decades at the international level, and scored exactly a 100 hundreds.
He scored his first Test century against England at Manchester in 1990 as a 17-year old, and went on to score 50 more in a Test career that continued till November 2013.
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