5 captains with the highest scores in Test cricket 

One of the toughest roles in Test cricket is that of a leading a national side. Not only does the captain of the team need to take important decisions on the field, but the pressure is also on them to lead from the front with their own individual performances.

There have been a number of star players who have lost out on their form owing to the pressure of captaincy, but in recent times, one man who has thrived under this pressure and made a big impact since his appointment as India's captain is Virat Kohli.

On the second day of the 2nd Test match between India and South Africa at Pune, Kohli stroked his way to his seventh double century and when India declared at 601/5, the Indian captain finished on 254*, his best-ever Test score.

Interestingly, all of Kohli's 200+ scores have come after he became the Indian captain and courtesy of his 254*, the prolific right-hander slotted into the 18th position in the list of the highest scores for a captain in the longest format of the game.

On that note, here is an account of the five highest scores by a captain in Test cricket.

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#5 Michael Clarke - 329* v India at Sydney, January 2012

Michael Clarke achieved this feat against India in 2012

A star-studded Indian team toured Australia to play a four-match Test series in the 2011-12 season but before the commencement of the second Test, Michael Clarke’s men already had an upper hand, with a win from the opening Test.

India won the toss in the second game and chose to bat first on a strip that looked good to put up a big score on the board. However, the Indian batsmen surrendered to the pace and bounce procured by the Australian pacers as the visitors could put up just 191 on the board in the first innings.

In reply, Australia lost their top three batsmen early in the innings and it seemed like India will be able to scalp all the wickets with ease.

But, the trio of Michael Clarke, Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey had other plans. They decimated the Indian bowling attack by adding 622 runs to the team's total. While Ponting had lost his wicket at the score of 134, Clarke and Hussey remained not out on 329 and 150, respectively.

Clarke's 468-balls knock included 39 fours and one six. Eventually, Australia won the Test match by an innings and 68 runs.

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#4 Graham Gooch - 333 runs

Graham Gooch

The former captain of the English team, Graham Gooch too recorded his highest individual Test score against India. When the Indian team visited the United Kingdom to play a three-match Test series versus England, the visitors did not know what hit them when the skipper of the home team welcomed them with a knock of 333 runs.

Opening the innings for England in the first Test match, Gooch hit a triple ton to take his side to a massive total of 653 runs. The right-handed batsman had smashed 43 fours and 3 sixes in his innings which comprised of 485 deliveries.

Gooch lost his wicket to Manoj Prabhakar but his innings had ensured that England won the Test match by a hefty margin of 247 runs.

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#3 Mark Taylor - 334* runs

Mark Taylor of Australia

The left-handed batting maestro from Australia, Mark Taylor holds the record of the highest Test score by an Australian captain. He had achieved this record while opening the innings against Pakistan at Peshawar in 1998.

He had built great partnerships with Justin Langer and Mark Waugh on the way to his triple hundred. In the end, Taylor declared the innings when the scoreboard of his team read 599/4, with him being not out at 334 runs.

The New South Wales-born player stood in the middle for 720 minutes during the course of his epic innings but his efforts could not produce a win for Australia as some brilliant batting performances from the Pakistani batsmen ensured that the game ended in a stalemate.

#2 Mahela Jayawardene - 374 runs

Mahela Jayawardene, one of the greatest Test captains of all time

Sri Lanka's veteran right-handed batsman, Mahela Jayawardene holds the record of registering the highest Test score by an Asian captain. Jayawardene had played his career-best knock of 374 runs against South Africa in the year 2006 at Colombo.

Electing to bat first after winning the toss, South Africa could only post 169 runs on the board before the Sri Lankan bowlers scalped all their wickets. The South African bowlers got the team off to a good start as they dismissed both the Sri Lankan openers inside 4 overs.

Then, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene joined forces to dominate the opposition bowlers. Sangakkara missed out on his triple hundred by just 13 runs but Jayawardene amassed 374 runs in the innings before his stumps were rattled by Andre Nel.

Sri Lanka had posted a mammoth total of 756/5 on the board and subsequently sealed the Test match by an innings and 153 runs. The captain received the Man of the Match award for his 572-balls innings which included 43 fours and a six.

#1 Brian Lara - 400* runs

Brian Lara

The batsman with the highest individual score in a single Test innings, Brian Lara had achieved the incredible record while he was the skipper of the West Indies team. Lara had played an unbelievable knock of 400 runs against England in April 2004 at St. John’s. Till date, this remains to be the only quadruple hundred in the history of international cricket.

After coming out to bat at number 3 on the opening day of the Test match, Lara took only 582 deliveries to reach this milestone

The English bowling attack consisted of Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison, Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones but all the bowlers proved to be ineffective against the left-handed batsman.

The West Indian captain hit 43 fours and 4 sixes in his once in a lifetime innings. Thanks to Lara’s brilliance, West Indies registered 751 runs on the board at the loss of 5 wickets in the first innings.

England managed to avoid a defeat in this match with some good batting performances later in the match but, Brian Lara etched his name in the history books with that 400* runs knock in the first innings.